Chapter 210 - - 209 Valuing Harmony (Congratulations to Leo on becoming Alliance Hierarch)_1

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That’s it? Just give up?

Fuck that!

I’ve spent nearly twenty days preparing to deal with you, finally getting through the challenge. Now you’re telling me to just drop it?

This bastard is definitely not confident about defeating me; he’s likely aiming to form his Golden Core and settle scores after autumn…

Lucky I came early!

Duge looked at the Valley Master of Sky Mist Valley and nodded with a smile, “Sounds good!”

The Valley Master of Sky Mist Valley was taken aback, seemingly not expecting Duge to agree. He looked at Duge with a hint of scrutiny in his eyes.

“Elder brother, this is unwise. Letting the tiger return to the mountain…” The Seventh Junior Brother stepped forward anxiously to remind him.

“Ahem.” Duge coughed, interrupting his impulsive junior brother. He looked composedly at the Valley Master of Sky Mist Valley and asked, “May I enquire about the esteemed name of the Valley Master?”

“I am Xu Heming.” The Valley Master of Sky Mist Valley said indifferently, “Since Sect Leader Wang agrees to withdraw, take your people and leave Sky Mist Valley. I won’t hold you responsible for the valley’s losses.”

“I heard that Valley Master Xu comes from a merchant background; is that true?” Duge asked.

“Yes,” Xu Heming replied.

“That’s a coincidence. I, too, have studied the ways of commerce. For merchants, integrity is paramount, and a promise once made is irrevocable,” Duge smiled. “Is that not so?”

“Yes,” Xu Heming replied.

“Merchants value profit and wouldn’t wake early if there weren’t something to gain. That’s also true, isn’t it?” Duge said.

“Everywhere under heaven, men strive for profit; everywhere under heaven, men scurry for profit,” Xu Heming said. “Who among mortals isn’t lured by the prospect of wealth and fame right before their eyes?”

“Then we can talk,” Duge smiled. “Valley Master Xu won’t hold Sky Mist Valley’s losses against me, but I do want to discuss the losses of Seven Star Gate with the Valley Master.”

“…” Xu Heming frowned. “Sect Leader Wang, you caused an uproar in my Sky Mist Valley, inflicted losses on eight of my elders, and I’ve not held you liable for those losses—yet you want to claim damages from me…”

Ling Pingshuang muttered to himself in the crowd, ‘Nine, including me!’

“My master is dead,” Duge said coldly. “Valley Master Xu, my Seven Star Gate never provoked or offended you, yet just because you coveted Seven Star Mountain, out of the nine members of my sect, including my master, only four of us are left alive. Shouldn’t I seek recompense from you?”

“With Sect Leader Wang’s abilities, how could my disciples have killed your master?” Xu Heming said angrily.

“It’s precisely because my master was harmed by you that I was driven to advance by leaps and bounds, stubbornly breaking through barriers. I nearly died from entering demonic states several times. If you were in my shoes, Valley Master Xu, would you be able to swallow this injustice?” Duge asked.

It clearly seemed like the senior brother had always been this powerful ever since he arrived; no one had ever seen him practicing…

The Seventh Junior Brother sneered inwardly, watched carefully, listened attentively, and earnestly learned from the Third Senior Brother’s ability to twist the truth. He had been with his master for so many years, but hadn’t learned as much as he had from his Third Senior Brother in twenty days. If not now, then when?

“The deceased have passed. I must bear the responsibility for the oversight. However, you have caused the deaths of eight of the twelve elders in the vast Sky Mist Valley, your losses far exceed those of Seven Star Gate,” Xu Heming said solemnly. “What more do you want? You hurt my people, which is one thing, but you stripped them of their clothes and cut off their arms—such demonic acts. If this gets to the Supervisory Academy, you won’t come out ahead, and my reluctance to argue doesn’t mean I fear you…”

“Since that’s the case, Valley Master Xu, are you unwilling to compensate for the losses of Seven Star Gate?” Duge sneered and stepped forward.

“There’s no such reason in all the world,” Xu Heming replied.

“Valley Master Xu, since we can’t reach an agreement as tradesmen, let’s have a fight instead, and decide the winner according to the rules of the Cultivation World!” Duge took another step forward. “Just you and me, a fair fight to the death—letting fate decide, how about that?”

Watching Duge pressuring him, Xu Heming’s hand clenched into a fist behind his back, veins bulging.

He was at the peak of Foundation Establishment. One more step, and he would become a free and easy Golden Core True Man, stepping into the true realm of cultivation.

As a Golden Core True Man, he could manipulate Spiritual Energy as if commanding his own limbs—a vast difference from the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Right now, he didn’t want to risk anything.

Xu Heming was at the peak of Foundation Establishment and didn’t believe he could strip eight Foundation Establishment elders naked and emerge unscathed himself.

He couldn’t see through Wang Chong.

Watching his body’s Spiritual Power fluctuations, it was clear that he was in the Qi Refinement Realm, yet even at its peak, that realm should not be able to overcome Foundation Establishment experts.

He worried that Wang Chong possessed divine Magical Treasures.

With Spiritual Energy imbued in Magical Treasures, one could fight across ranks. He had cultivated for fifty years, fervently searching for such treasures to no avail.

If Wang Chong truly had such a treasure and it severed his arm during their battle, even if it were reattached, it could lessen his chances of advancing to Golden Core. And if it couldn’t be reattached, becoming one-armed, even as a Golden Core, his combat ability would be greatly reduced…

“Valley Master Xu, will you fight or not?” Duge stepped forward again and shouted.

Xu Heming feared injuring himself and was unwilling to fight with Duge.

Duge also felt apprehensive.

Xu Heming had arrived too quickly, far faster than those Foundation Establishment elders.

Though he could quickly heal his wounds with looting to support him, if his head was cut off or his body bisected, he would still die…

The gap between the peak of Qi Refinement and the peak of Foundation Establishment was too large.

Duge was looking for an opportunity.

He needed a chance to get close to Xu Heming, to burst forth and inflict injury. Just one leg or one arm taken, and Xu Heming would be at his mercy.

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