After Li Fei Fei's corpse collapsed onto the ground, Lin Fan searched through it without any scruples.
Li Fei Fei was able to make it this far down because she definitely wasn't weak. She was actually in the Embryo Soul Realm and was one of the seeded candidates, but she was only in the low Embryo Soul Realm, so she was still not a match for Lin Fan.
Lin Fan didn't bother with the small things, he just took her artifacts and her money before heading off deeper into the ruins.
However, before he could go any further, there was a voice that suddenly sounded by him.
"Woah, what happened here?"
Lin Fan suddenly turned around in surprise since he didn't notice anyone coming up from behind him, but somehow there was someone that had done so.
When Lin Fan did turn around and see who it was, he was even more surprised by who it was.
It was Mo Ze Chen who had been bothering Lin Fan outside, but the fact that it was him made Lin Fan more wary.
After all, Mo Ze Chen had been the one who had come up to him with a deal that had seemed strange to him at first, but now it seemed like perhaps he really did have some secret power that he was hiding. However, if he did, that raised the question of why he approached Lin Fan and what goals he had.
Lin Fan was more than capable of taking care of himself here, but if he brought along someone whose motivations that he wasn't clear on, that would just be bringing danger to himself.
Mo Ze Chen could naturally see the wary look that Lin Fan had, but he still said with a smile, "You don't have to worry, what I want is very simple."
Lin Fan just replied, "People who say that there's nothing to worry about are usually the ones that you'd have to worry about the most, don't you think?"
Mo Ze Chen just said with a smile, "If there was something to worry about, I would have already done something, wouldn't I?"
Lin Fan smiled in response to this and said, "That depends on if you have the ability to do that, which is probably why you want to work with me, isn't it?"
Mo Ze Chen's smile turned bitter when he heard this and he shook his head as he muttered, "It seems like I really can't hide anything from you."
Lin Fan also had a bitter smile as he said, "If you couldn't hide anything from me, we wouldn't be here now, would we?"
Neither of them said a thing as they looked at each other before breaking out in laughter at the same time.
It was clear that neither of them trusted each other as far as they would throw the other, but at least they were past the awkward part where they still didn't know each other yet and could actually get into the real negotiations.
Mo Ze Chen didn't waste any time after they stopped laughing as he said, "I want to offer the same offer as before, I want to work with you to kill the guardian of these ruins."
Lin Fan nodded before saying, "What do you want out of it though?"
Mo Ze Chen revealed another smile as he said, "Would you believe me if I said nothing?"
Lin Fan fell into thought for a bit before slowly giving a nod, "Well, there's definitely no merit for you to kill this guardian, so I would say that I would believe you. If I had to guess, you just want to use me to pass through the next few exams and become a hunter, isn't that right?"
Mo Ze Chen had the same smile as he said, "It's always good to deal with smart people, it really saves quite a bit of time. That's right, I just want your help to get through these exams and you can keep everything that we find after we defeat the guardian. This is a guardian that is in the True Soul Realm, so you can imagine what kind of treasures it might be hiding."
Lin Fan was in thought for a bit before saying, "First, your information is wrong, it's only in the Nascent Soul Realm, so there wouldn't be as much treasure as you think there is, which only decreases the value of your deal. Second, there's no guarantee that we will be able to kill it in the first place, so your words basically hold no weight at all, that is unless you're willing to tell me what methods you have for killing it. And third, you're asking me to carry you through the rest of the exams, but we have no idea how difficult the next exams will be or if we can even work together, so it's hard to judge how much to charge you for this."
After a pause, Lin Fan then said, "In short, there are more demerits that merits to your plan, so there doesn't seem to be a reason for me to accept, is there?"
Mo Ze Chen paused for a second before saying, "How about I tell you how I snuck up on you then?"
Lin Fan revealed a slightly interested look because he had been wondering this question the entire time, but then he still shook his head and said, "There's nothing for me to gain from that. If you were to offer me the artifact that you used or the technique that you used, perhaps that would be a different story, but right now there's no benefits to this."
Mo Ze Chen revealed a difficult look, but before he said anything else, Lin Fan once again said, "I can pretty much guess what you plan on using. Your cultivation isn't that high, so it's clear that you're depending on artifacts to take care of it, but if you aren't willing to trust me, there's nothing I can do. And I'm sure there's nothing you can do since you depend on artifacts, which means that you don't have one that's strong enough to defeat a Nascent Soul Realm beast, isn't that right?"
In the end, Mo Ze Chen gave a sigh before saying, "It is much easier discussing with someone who is smart, but it's also much more difficult to get a good deal, isn't it?"
Lin Fan didn't say anything in response this time as he waited for Mo Ze Chen's response.
In the end, Mo Ze Chen gave another sigh before digging into his pocket before pulling out a ring. He put that ring on and with a wave of the hand that had the ring on it, there was a ball that suddenly appeared in his hand.
Mo Ze Chen held it up for Lin Fan to look at as he said, "This is my special item that I'll use to hold the guardian in place. It also has the effect of reducing their cultivation, so that it won't be higher than the Child Soul Realm, but that's still too strong for me to beat, which is why I need your help."
Lin Fan stroked his chin in thought as he had Brainy check the artifact with its spiritual senses. After a bit, Brainy reported that it did indeed seem like an artifact with the ability to trap things based on the laws that were contained within it.
Lin Fan could tell that Mo Ze Chen should be telling the truth since it would be very easy for him to find out if he was lying, so there was no need for Mo Ze Chen to lie here, unless he was stupid, but he clearly wasn't.
Since that was the case, Lin Fan was tempted because he wanted to know what kind of things were hidden in these ruins that even a Nascent Soul Realm beast was guarding it. It had to be something special if that were the case…
After considering it, Lin Fan said, "I can work with you, but you have to add one more condition in."
Mo Ze Chen revealed an excited look when he heard this and he quickly said, "What is it? Just tell me."
Lin Fan reached out with his hand and said, "If you give me your artifact for hiding right now, I can work with you."
Mo Ze Chen revealed an ugly look at this because he knew what Lin Fan was trying to do.
Just in case anything bad happened during their plan, without the hiding artifact, there was no chance Mo Ze Chen would be able to escape since he had already experienced Lin Fan's ability to hide firsthand. It was so good that his detection artifacts couldn't even find a thing.
So he was clearly trying to ensure that Mo Ze Chen would be the one who drew the beast's attention if they ever needed to escape…
But Mo Ze Chen naturally valued his life and didn't want to do something like this, so he countered, "Is there any other way?"
Lin Fan thought about it before saying, "Well, it's not like there isn't another way…"
He drew out his words as he tugged on Mo Ze Chen's hopes.
As he said this, his hand drew back into his sleeve and when it appeared again, there was a seed that was in his hand.
He brought his hand up right in front of Mo Ze Chen so he could see that seed before saying, "If you eat this and don't resist, I can consider it."