“Green Lightning gems!”
Pan Tao exclaimed softly as he watched the Thunder Beast swallow the handful of green, jade-like gems. Then he looked into his bracelet of holding to see if he had similar spiritual materials with him.
He realized that that this fifth grade Thunder Beast had already developed its own intelligence. It was its own master and was not something that could be easily deceived.
The Thunder Beast was a lightning-attributed spirit beast, therefore its cultivation relied on the power of thunder and lightning. Even though the Green Lightning gems were just Elementary grade spiritual materials, they happened to be very suitable for the upgrade of the Thunder Beast’s bloodline since they had lightning power within them.
Pan Tao took a while to go through his belongings, yet couldn’t find any lightning-attributed spiritual materials. Then he cursed inwardly, “God damn! I didn’t store any Green Lightning gems.”
Nie Tian looked at the Thunder Beast with cold eyes, noticing that it stood up immediately after An Shiyi got on its back.
The Thunder Beast’s pupils shone with a greedy light as it stared at Pan Tao and the others, as if it were waiting for something.
“Three Green Lightning gems are not enough for you!?” Nie Tian scolded.
The Thunder Beast cast a cold glare at him, and then ignored him. Then it continued to stare at Pan Tao and the others, urging them along with its eyes.
It was telling them to follow An Shiyi’s example, and win its favor by offering it lightning-attributed spiritual materials. Only then would it agree to take everyone along with it.
“Hahaha!” Sitting on the Thunder Beast’s back, An Shiyi suddenly laughed, turning her delicate face into a blossomed flower. Dark pupils glittering with captivating, bright light, she seemed to have come up with a good idea.
“Here!” She took out three more Green Lightning gems, and passed them down along the Thunder Beast’s neck to its mouth.
The Thunder Beast swallowed all of them at once and let out a satisfied low-pitched cry, a joyous expression appearing on its face.
“Her!” An Shiyi lifted her lily-white hand and pointed at An Ying. She said, ”You can come up.”
An Ying went blank for a moment, but she soon realized what her sister meant and walked towards the Thunder Beast with a faint smile on her face.
The Thunder Beast once again gently crouched low and bent forward on the ground, letting An Ying climb onto its back effortlessly.
“This spirit beast is… quite interesting.” An Ying smiled charmingly as she mounted the Thunder Beast and sat behind her sister, curiously scrutinizing the creature from head to foot.
Not long after she sat down, the Thunder Beast abruptly stood up again and cast an angry look towards Pan Tao.
Pan Tao stood next to the Thunder Beast awkwardly and gave an embarrassed smile.
Originally, he had planned to secretly climb up the back of the Thunder Beast while An Ying made her way up. However, the Thunder Beast saw through his little scheme in time and had warned him to put a stop to his tricks.
“Brother Ye,” Jiang Lingzhu asked softly, “do you have any lightning-attributed spiritual materials with you?”
Ye Gumo shook his head and said while scratching his hair, ”I’ve looked through all my stuff, and can’t even find one thunder or lightning attributed spiritual material. Damn this Thunder Beast. I’m afraid it won’t allow us to climb up its back unless we feed it and please it.”
“I have long since heard about this beast’s snobbishness and greed for treasure,” Jiang Lingzhu said in a cursing tone, “but I’ve never thought it would go this far! We are disciples of the Cloudsoaring sect, and it’s a spirit beast reared by our martial granduncle. I can’t believe that it’s actually imposing its greed on us!”
An Shiyi’s dark pupils shone with brilliant light. “Well… I still have quite a few Green Lightning gems in my bracelet of holding.” Glancing at Pan Tao, Jiang Lingzhu, and Ye Gumo from the corner of her eyes, she said with a smile, “Pan Tao, we are both disciples of the Spiritual Treasure sect, so I won’t rip you off. You’ll just need to give me three Flame Crystals and I’ll offer you three Green Lightning gems in exchange. What do you say?”
“Is this the way to do business, Big Sister An?” Pan Tao almost sprung into the air with anger. He said, “Green Lightning gems are only Elementary grade lightning-attributed spiritual materials, but Flame Crystals are Premium grade fire-attributed spiritual materials! You couldn’t possibly be confused about the huge difference between a Premium grade spiritual material and a Elementary grade spiritual material, could you!?”
“One Flame Crystal could at least convert into seven hundred Green Lightning gems. Yet, you want to use three Green Lightning gems to exchange for three Flame Crystals from me. Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
An Shiyi pursed up her lips into a smile. Then she spread out her hands and said, ”So that means no deal?”
The appearance of the Thunder Beast had allowed her to see the opportunity to escape from the desperate straits. She knew that since this unusual beast was here, they would be able to get out of the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range very quickly.
With that in mind, she put her heart at ease and decided to take the opportunity to plunder as much loot as possible.
“No, no deal!” Pan Tao said with decisiveness that could sever nails and chop iron.
“So be it.” An Shiyi showed an indifferent attitude.
Nie Tian, on the other hand, smiled widely, thinking to himself that the resourceful woman in front of him was the true An Shiyi.
An Shiyi seemed to be born with a knack for business dealings and gaining profits. Nie Tian had heard before that the businesses that she had previously managed for the Spiritual Treasure sect had all earned abundant profits.
Aside from her outstanding innate cultivation talent, her skill in the business field was what had caused the sect master to regard her highly.
Today, Nie Tian had finally witnessed An Shiyi’s remarkable ability to plunder wealth.
Pan Tao stared at An Shiyi angrily. He took out a Flame Crystal and held it near to the Thunder Beast’s mouth. “These are Flame Crystals! They are way more precious than those Green Lightning gems. I’m willing to use this Flame Crystal to exchange for the opportunity to leave Scarlet Flame Mountain Range!”
WHOOSH!
The Thunder Beast let out a puff of foul breath that was laced with fine strands of lightning bolts. It did not even spare the Flame Crystal a glance before turning its head to look towards the lava lake in the distance.
There seemed to be a large number of Flame Crystals embedded at the bottom of that lake, glittering with bright and fiery light.
By doing that, the Thunder Beast seemed to be telling Pan Tao that the Flame Crystals he had were not even worth a dime to it. Since the Flame Crystals could be found everywhere in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range, it was far from enough to make it carry one more person.
“You foolish beast!” Pan Tao stamped with fury.
However, the Thunder Beast didn’t care at all, and kept puffing out foul breaths that were generated from its refinement of the Green Lightning gems.
Calm and well-paced, An Shiyi proceeded to offer a thorough analysis. “You should know that the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range is not safe. Nobody has any idea what the situation is over at the Spiritual Treasure sect. If the Earth Flame Beast is still ravaging the valley and if the lava seeps back into the earth, many survivors, who were previously trapped on mountaintop like us, will all be able to move again soon enough.
“All other people aside, Feng Luo and Yu Tong are still quite close to us.
“Without the hindrance of the lava-filled rivers and gorges, I believe that Feng Luo and Yu Tong would rush here without the slightest hesitation and murder everyone here all at the first possible moment.
“And this is only the situation as we know it. There could be even more experts out there that we don’t know about.
“Wasting more time in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range is very unwise; it would put us in even greater danger.”
An Shiyi frowned slightly, and with a dignified tone, she explained to the crowd about the serious situation they were in. “Plus, everyone has collected a lot of Flame Crystals just now. Taking out a few to exchange for an opportunity to live, from what I see, is very wise and worthy.”
Nie Tian found it quite interesting to listen to her speak and see her use a scrutinizing gaze to look at Pan Tao and the others. Unknowingly, the corner of his mouth curled up into a smile.
He had already seen through An Shiyi’s plan. Clearly, she had seized an exceptional opportunity to loot a few Flame Crystals from the hands of Pan Tao and the others.
“Fine! You win!” Pan Tao snorted. He obediently took out three Flame Crystals, waved them towards An Shiyi, and said, “They are yours now!”
An Shiyi put on a sweet smile. “Smart choice.” She took out three Green Lightning gems and passed them to the Thunder Beast. After the Thunder Beast swallowed them, she pointed her finger at Pan Tao.
As expected, after swallowing the Green Lightning gems, the Thunder Beast obediently crouched down and let Pan Tao up on its back.
After Pan Tao climbed up, he handed the three Flame Crystals in his hand to An Ying, and let her pass them onto An Shiyi, who was at the front.
“So what about you?” An Shiyi turned to look at Jiang Lingzhu and Ye Gumo.
Jiang Lingzhu cursed in a low voice, “Mean old woman!” However, she also had no other choice but to take out three Flame Crystals and wave them towards An Shiyi.
With a bitter smile, Ye Gumo did the same.
An Shiyi shook her head and with a tone that sounded as if it couldn’t be more natural, she said, “Sorry, three is not enough. Pan Tao and I are both from the Spiritual Treasure sect, and that’s why he could exchange with me one for one. As for you guys… each of you needs to give me six Flame Crystals in exchange for three of my Green Lightning gems.”
Nie Tian didn’t know if An Shiyi had long since planned for it in her heart or if she had overheard Jiang Lingzhu’s curse just now. Whichever it was, An Shiyi seemed very determined.
“Are you insane?” Jiang Lingzhu almost burst with anger. She argued loudly, “The Spiritual Treasure sect has already fallen into such sore conditions, and will probably need aid from the Cloudsoaring sect and the other two sects! And yet you want to blackmail me?”
An Shiyi put away her smile and said with a plain face, “You’re right, the Spiritual Treasure sect will suffer great damages after this calamity, and it may even disappear from the Realm of Flame Heaven. And that is the exact reason why I have to obtain as many precious spiritual materials as I can: so that my sister and I can have a secure future. If our sect is gone, then what will we sisters depend on to maintain our foothold in the Realm of Flame Heaven in the future?”
Upon hearing these words, Jiang Lingzhu fell into silence. She looked deeply towards An Shiyi and with a nod, she said, “Fine, now I finally know how fierce you are. If the Spiritual Treasure sect is really destroyed, I’ll personally ask my father to recruit you to the Cloudsoaring sect. We can really use a woman like you in our sect, even though your cultivation base doesn’t stand out.”
With these words, she took out three more Flame Crystals.
The same went for Ye Gumo.
An Shiyi then took out six Green Lightning gems and held it near the Thunder Beast’s mouth. After swallowing them with one motion, the Thunder Beast crouched down once again, letting both Jiang Lingzhu and Ye Gumo up on its back.
By this point, Nie Tian was the only one standing on the ground.
After both Jiang Lingzhu and Ye Gumo mounted its back, the Thunder Beast once again stood up, and raised its head to look into the sky, like it didn’t notice Nie Tian’s presence.
Originally, it was here to pick up Nie Tian and leave. However, since it had savored a sweet taste from others, it didn’t plan to let Nie Tian off.
Looking at its arrogant and laughable manner, Nie Tian realized that if he didn’t want to cough up some treasure, he might have to waste a long time arguing with this asshole.
However, just as An Shiyi had pointed out, the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range wasn’t safe yet. He really could not afford to waste his time here.
“Sister An, I……” He reached into his bracelet of holding to get some Flame Crystals as he spoke.
“No, you don’t need to pay me anything.” A wide smile stretched across An Shiyi’s face. She smoothly tossed three Green Lightning gems to the Thunder Beast and squeezed back slightly, giving up the front spot. She waved her hand and said, “Come on, get up.”
Nie Tian chuckled. “Alright.” He jumped onto the back of the crouched Thunder Beast under the strange gazes of Pan Tao and Ye Gumo.
He sat in the front spot. It was so crowded he and An Shiyi were practically stuck together. He threw a vigorous kick at the Thunder Beast and said, “Let’s go!”
With a low-pitched cry, the Thunder Beast opened up its wings and soared into the sky. Under the gazes of Yu Tong and Feng Luo, they headed out of the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range.