Chapter 15: Covert Return
It was clear that Su Ping was motivated by his greed, and Jonathan Chu would certainly prefer bankruptcy to death. Angering him at this critical juncture would be a terribly unwise decision. In that case, he had no choice but to give in.
A dozen Spirit Essences, including the superior-grade transformation-type Spirit Essences he'd been eyeing earlier, ended up in Su Ping's hands.
The three-dimensional world was a curious entity, with its own rules and will. A human, upon entering the dimensional world, would unlock a spirit reservoir granted by the will of the world. This spirit reservoir was where hunters could store their spirit essence.
Hunters' strength came from four sources: their framework, their spirit essence, their gene fragments, and their genetic energy. Their gene fragments represented their strength and constitution; their framework, the nature and maximum capacity of their genetic energy; their techniques, different ways of unleashing that energy.
spirit essences complemented and augmented a hunter's suite of techniques. To some extent, the quality of a hunter's spirit essences dictated their maximum strength, and having an assortment of valuable spirit essences was a hunter's greatest treasure. All hunters' spirit reservoirs were protected by the will of the world, and no one else could steal a spirit essence from another hunter's spirit reservoir.
Jonathan Chu's spirit essences would clearly be the cream of the crop. Most of his remaining spirit essences were also of the exceedingly rare transformation type, and Su Ping had just received a veritable fortune.
"You truly are rich, Young Master Jonathan. I'll accept your gift with gratitude." Su Ping affected a smarmy smile as he swiped Jonathan Chu's spirit essences. In his head, Jonathan Chu thought to himself, "Shameless bastard!"
Of course, he didn't dare say so out loud. "Su Ping, friend, now that I've given you these spirit essences, won't you hand us the antidote?"
Su Ping roared with laughter. "Eh, didn't you say you would stop at nothing to kill me? I'm not sure I want a friend like you, Jonathan Chu."
"Grace Wang, you're up next. Jonathan Chu bought his life with all his spirit essences—what about you?" Su Ping pointed the spear toward Grace Wang.
When she saw the glinting spearhead, she immediately panicked. "Su Ping, I'm begging you, don't kill me! I'll give you everything I have!"
It was only now that Grace Wang understood that the young man she had forsaken was no weakling at all—he was only biding his time. She very much regretted provoking him repeatedly just for a bit of face.
Surprisingly, Su Ping was quite genial to her. "In that case, hand over your spirit essences. As for your points, we can discuss that once we're back in the district."
"Al-Alright! Here!" Grace Wang immediately offered her palm to him, and Su Ping took all of her spirit essences with a careless swipe of his hand.
Of course, compared to Jonathan Chu, Grace Wang's souls were far more inferior. Except for one or two mutated-grade spirit essences, the others were all relatively mundane. That didn't mean he wouldn't take them all, however. There were at least a hundred districts dotted all over the dimensional world, and spirit essences were always in hot demand.
The rest was easy. Fang Liu, Zhou Ming, and the last remaining member of Jonathan Chu's team all handed over their souls in turn, having watched their captain and Grace Wang do so.
Combined, Su Ping had obtained over forty spirit essences from Jonathan Chu's party. Since the remaining three members of Jonathan Chu's team were hunters that Jonathan Chu had intended on supporting in earnest, their spirit essences were far superior to those that Grace Wang had.
After collecting everyone's spirit essences, Su Ping patted his hands and smiled.
"Su Ping, now that you've accepted all our spirit essences, won't you give us the antidote?" Jonathan Chu asked carefully. His body had now been completely paralyzed, and even speaking was starting to get difficult. It felt far too uncomfortable to have his life in someone else's hands, and he wanted to end this nightmarish scenario as quickly as he could.
Right after he spoke, however, the other hunters heard a clean snick and saw a fountain of blood. Grace Wang, Fang Liu, and the others looked on in horror as Jonathan Chu's head toppled from his body.
"Ah—Ahhh!"
"Captain!" You damned—"
"Su Ping, you're not trusted."
Grace Wang screamed again, and Fang Liu and the others began to curse Su Ping, but Su Ping's blade had reached them before any of them could finish.
"When did I say I would spare any of you?" Su Ping asked, almost rhetorically. The only hunter still alive was
Grace Wang. Of course, the reason Su Ping kept her alive wasn't because he pitied her, but because he would need her to take the blame.
After dealing with Jonathan Chu and the others, Su Ping strode forward toward Grace Wang's prone body.
"Don't kill me! Su Ping, I'm begging you, don't kill me! I'll do anything you ask me to!"
A sudden stink filled the air. In her extreme fear, Grace Wang had involuntarily defecated. The scene in front of her eyes was simply too frightening! The hunter by her side had been Jonathan Chu, scion of the branch of the Chu clan in Jiangdu, and Su Ping had killed him without even blinking an eye, as though he were simply squashing a bug!
And all the other hunters beside her—their clans weren't as rich or influential, but still notable and powerful in their own right. How could Su Ping have killed all of them?! And if he was daring enough to kill them, wouldn't he also kill her?
Faced with the overwhelming prospect of death, Grace Wang broke down.
"I'm so sorry! Please, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have left you, I shouldn't have looked down on you, I shouldn't have made trouble for you at your house! It's all my fault! Su Ping, I'm begging you. Please don't kill me!"
"Ah, what's this? What happened to Young Miss Wang, who commanded me to beg at the district gates for her favor? What, have you learned your mistake?
"Honestly, I don't care whether or not you've left me. I don't even care that you've been trying to glean information on my father in hopes of securing his inheritance. I really can't be bothered to care about such matters, but this doesn't mean that I'm scared of you, or of the Wang clan. You shouldn't have repeatedly antagonized me or my sister, and you certainly shouldn't have brought Jonathan Chu into this affair, damning you and the entire Wang clan!
"But don't worry, since I didn't kill you before, I'm not going to kill you now. Not only that, I'll even bring you back to the district, hale and hearty!" Su Ping's tone was chillingly bright.
Even as naive as Grace Wang was, she knew that Su Ping surely didn't have good intentions in doing so, but could she refuse? Of course not! She had to hold on to any chance of survival.
"Really? You really won't kill me?"
Instead of replying, Su Ping pulled out a curiously large purple flower, then scattered its pollen over her prone body. As a refreshing scent wafted up her nose, Grace Wang felt her paralysis fade.
This soulbloom flower was a rare subsidiary ingredient that Su Ping had picked up while gathering ingredients for Potion #1. It was the pollen from this flower that caused the Deathstalkers to ignore Su Ping's presence and served as an antidote against the mist formed from their poisonous blood.
After storing his spoils, Su Ping instructed Grace Wang not to run away after she recovered from her paralysis. Then he headed back into the glade to harvest the rare herbs that grew within. He wasn't at all worried that Grace Wang would escape, because he knew that she had neither the daring nor the capability.
And given that he was planning to return Grace Wang to the district, this venombane glade would soon be a well-known location. As a result, he would have to harvest and hunt what he could now.
The exoskeletons of these Deathstalkers were particularly useful and could be used to brew a variety of medicines, potions, and poisons. Mutated-grade Deathstalker spirit essences were even more useful, so the glade would soon be packed to the brim with hunters.
Su Ping spent the next three days in the Venombane Glade.
Su Ping: a mortal lifeform
Framework: Foundation, Lv. MAX, Ninefold Carapace Evolution, First Form: Deathstalker
Techniques: Rippling Walk (novice), Cascade-Wave Resonance (novice)
Genes: Basic, 130; Mutated, 80; Advanced, 10
spirit essences: Milk Slime (advanced), Aerowolf (mutated), Voltaire Ant (mutated), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Deathstalker (mutated)
The reason he had taken so long was both in order to harvest herbs and to hunt for a mutated-grade Deathstalker spirit essence. It was extremely difficult to find such Deathstalkers while they were stolen, and if not for Su Ping's understanding of their habits and weaknesses, it would have taken even longer.
As expected, Grace Wang didn't even try to run away. All she did was bury her teammates' corpses.
Back in the Dusksteel district, outside the gates, a number of gamblers were glancing all around the landscape, searching for a certain hunter.
"It's been three whole days! Surely Jonathan Chu and his team would be back by now?"
"It's only been three days—given Jonathan Chu's skill, it wouldn't be unusual for his team to be out hunting for an entire month!"
"That's right! After all, that Su Ping surely was nothing more than an interlude for someone like Jonathan Chu."
"Even calling him an interlude is way too much! You couldn't have bet on him, could you?"
"Of course not! What are the odds now, something like 120:1 against him?"
What the crowd didn't realize was that, amidst their discussions, two stealthed hunters were passing by them and heading into the district.
Of course, these two hunters were Su Ping and Grace Wang.