Chapter 4289 — If You Won't Pay, Then Leave

"Are you deaf, or is there something wrong with your brain? I said leave them, didn't you hear me?" the other man in azure robes jeered, curling his lip.

"I heard you well enough, but you'll have to be plain with us—leave what, exactly?" Chang Daoping's cheeks twitched, and he had no choice but to keep asking in that deferential tone. Paying a bribe to avert disaster still counted as the better outcome; if the man came out with "leave your lives," then today's luck would be very poor indeed.

"Leave the Star Ink Milk, and every valuable thing you've got on you—all of it, hand it over!" The azure-robed man waved his hand impatiently, then turned to his companion. "Heh heh, old friend, same rules as ever—we each pick three, then we compare and see who ends up with the bigger haul! If I win, your clan gets to serve tea and meals to mine for the next few days. Haha!"

"Hmph, me lose to you? What a joke. My eye's always been sharp—ten of you wouldn't be my match!" The other azure-robed man laughed at once, then stretched out a finger and pointed at Chang Daoping, Cao Shishi, and Luo Tuoxiang. "You, you, and you—you three are mine."

"Now, now, old friend, that's hardly sporting—you only picked the strongest!" The first man grew anxious, but with matters as they stood there was nothing for it. He pointed at Hu Youli, Fan Dongji, and Fang Miaojin, consoling himself aloud. "Don't gloat too soon. Strength doesn't guarantee good luck. Some little trinkets aren't much to look at, but the things they carry are finer than fine."

As the two azure-robed men spoke, whether by design or by accident, they had excluded Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao from their selections altogether, which left the two of them rather baffled.

Could it be these two had seen that neither he nor Xiaotao carried any Star Ink Milk anymore? And that their strength ranked at the very bottom of the whole group, so the two men couldn't be bothered with them?

And who were these two, anyway? The more Wei Zhao listened to them talk, the more familiar they sounded. At least a sixty percent chance, he thought, that he had met them both before—yet looking at their faces, he could not for the life of him place them.

While Wei Zhao puzzled over it in silence, Chang Daoping and the other five were truly miserable. They had finally obtained the Star Ink Milk they had dreamed of, and before they could even properly rejoice, these two highwaymen had sprung out of nowhere and fixed their eyes on them. What in the world was this?

"Leave the Star Ink Milk and everything of value? Gentlemen, that strikes me as a bit unfair." Chang Daoping was, after all, a seasoned Nascent Soul cultivator; though he felt some trepidation facing these two azure-robed men, he was not so cowed as to be afraid to speak. "The Star Ink Milk was taken from this place, and if you want us to leave it behind, we've nothing to say to that. But the rest of our belongings are our own. Isn't this plain robbery?"

"Robbery? What a way with words you have. I told you, it's a toll. Do you take the Aoduo Cultivation City of our spirit beast clan—such a famous scenic spot—for a place you can enjoy free of charge?" one of them said with an odd laugh.

"A scenic spot..." Chang Daoping and the others exchanged glances, so utterly exasperated they wanted to spit blood. This godforsaken place reeked of death; apart from the two bandit lords standing before them, not a single living thing was to be seen. If not for the Star Ink Milk, who in blazes would have nothing better to do than come to a place like this and ask for trouble—famous scenic spot indeed?

"Exactly. Where else have you seen a teleportation array that anyone can use freely without paying a price? Either way, the toll can't be skipped," the other azure-robed man chimed in with a strange laugh of his own.

Chang Daoping's mouth twitched. He was choked speechless for a good while. Strip them of every valuable thing on their persons, and they called that a toll? Robbery was robbery—did they have to dress it up in such lofty words? Had spirit beasts really grown this cunning nowadays?

"What? You really won't pay? Fine, then. Turn around and go back to your sightseeing. Don't dawdle here!" The two azure-robed men's expressions were beginning to show impatience.

Cao Shishi, Luo Tuoxiang, and the rest all turned their eyes to Chang Daoping. Whether to go or stay was not a decision any of them could make alone; they could only look to Chang Daoping for his judgment.

But either way, being made to hand over not only the Star Ink Milk but every valuable thing on their persons—that would leave anyone sick with frustration.

The group was unwilling, and naturally Chang Daoping was unwilling too. He turned on his heel and walked off. Since the other side had put it that way, at least one thing was certain: they probably would not strike rashly. That was the only good news to be had at present.

Cao Shishi and the others were startled for a moment, then followed Chang Daoping toward the entrance, each of them uneasy at heart. From what the two azure-robed men had just said, if the group kept wandering about inside the ruins, they ought not to interfere.

But that was the trouble—it was no use. Even if they found ever so many treasures in the ruins, there was simply no way they could carry them out.

Because the moment they tried to leave, every treasure on them would be stripped away by the two azure-robed men, not one piece left behind. That was nothing but a waste of time—and the greater the gains, the more it would hurt.

Such an obvious problem could not have escaped Chang Daoping. A sudden thought stirred in Wei Zhao's mind: could it be he meant to get out by some other route?

"Oh, that's right—one thing I forgot to remind you of." At that moment the azure-robed man behind them spoke up again.

The whole group started as one, thinking the man meant to go back on his word after all, and one by one they turned their uneasy faces toward the two azure-robed men.

"There's only one way out of here: this teleportation array. Every other exit has been sealed shut, the Moon Shadow Array included. Now it lets you in but not out." The azure-robed man's face was full of mockery as he gave a harsh, cackling laugh. "Not that you could even find where the Moon Shadow Array is—and supposing you did, only someone with spirit beast blood could pass through it. Do you have any?"

At these words, Chang Daoping's face fell at once. Just as Wei Zhao had guessed, he had indeed been counting on leaving through the Moon Shadow Array. Even though he still did not know how to break out of it from within, he had after all studied the Moon Shadow Array for some time, and it was not as though he could find no thread to grasp at all.

That route would be far more troublesome than the teleportation array, but at least he would not be picked clean like this—and there was still a fair margin of time. Yet with one casual sentence, the azure-robed man had shattered that fine fantasy of his. (To be continued..)