"Bet?"
"Yes, a bet, if I manage to go past the scorpion, you'll hand me half of your Top Grade Spirit stones," I spoke.
"Hah, the blabbering of a dead man, what would I gain from this if you die!" he said.
"Hmm, how about this," I said as I manifested a Saint Qi crystal in my hand. It was a small one, the one I used to cultivate the plants and spiritual herbs inside the Lord of Lords pagoda.
It wasn't as big as it was before since a lot of the habitants of Lucid Springs were using it. But it was still a treasure trove.
The greed in all of the cultivator's eyes grew wide.
And then I realized I might have fucked up a bit, I thought that Saint Qi crystals would be abundant even on this planet so it wouldn't have brought that much attention but I was sorely mistaken
This is a mistake that I shouldn't have done.
Should I just kill them all…
The thought crossed my mind and I immediately shook it off. I'm not some mass murderer, I fucked up, that's true so I'll have to make sure to fix it. However, it wasn't for no reason.
"Here, you can hold on to it," I said.
It was to Yu Liang, I'm not some third-rate novel character looking for a love interest in such a cheesy, way, but I needed something from this woman. So getting her favor and being on her good side is a bonus.
"Are you sure about this?" she said.
"Yes, I am," I said.
She then placed it inside her holding bag and said, "Aren't you afraid that I could just leave with this Saint Crystal, it isn't something you find on the ground," she said.
"You can do that, but I doubt you'll steal it. Your Holy Water Palace Sect won't agree to it, right?" I said.
Of course, I could recognize her sect from the emblem on her robes, and I needed their favor, for a manual that I had obtained and now need the rest of.
The Holy Water Palace sect is the one that created the Golden Scripture. The Doppelganger technique. She was from that sect and seemed to be of a high position in the sect. Since her robes had a darker shade of red than the other cultivators around her.
The golden scripture art isn't something simple, and gaining more understanding of that cultivation technique will allow me to create even more doppelgangers to aid me in fight, and even have the ability to transposition between them as if they were my own avatars. However, I'll need the higher parts of this scripture.
"Right, you seem to know of our sect, then it is safe in my hands until you succeed or fail. Good luck," she said.
"I'd also recommend that you follow me, I'll create an opening that you can use to escape, it'll only be for a moment. I won't help you a second time," I said.
"You seem confident," she said. "But you're very reckless in thinking you can beat something like that," she said.
"Who said anything about beating it," I smiled. "Also, that same reckless man saved you before," I said. "Anyway, I'll head out first, this is the last time I'll ask you to follow me," I said.
Then stepped back into my pod.
Once I was on my pod, I replaced the top grade spirit stone and made sure I was ready.
I then headed out first leaving the rest behind me arguing if I would be able to do what I promised I would do.
Many of them decided against following a stranger to the jaws of death, but surprisingly she followed after me.
"I guess you're very brave, or very reckless trusting a stranger," I said.
"There is nothing I would lose form following you, I can easily retreat if your plan doesn't work. Not to mention we've been stuck for a while here," she said.
"Right then, you won't regret this," I said.
A few of the other fanatics or probably some of her fan club followed after her. Yet the majority remained away. Among them the guy who I made the bet with.
Once we approached the scorpion, she spoke to me, "Are you sure about this!" she asked.
"Don't worry," I said and then I opened the glass from my pod.
"Go," I said.
And immediately, X manifested from the Lord of Lord's pagoda and shot forward towards the scorpion.
X was not capable of wounding the beast, but he was fast enough to do something for me.
After blasting his Qi reactor to the max, he then pulled out one of my incendiary rocket launchers and shot it forward.
A dozen rockets flew up and then came down against the scorpion, there was no chance in hell that explosions like those would harm it, in a matter of fact it'll only make it pissed off.
And that's what I was aiming for.
The scorpion, angered by the prickling explosions screeched once again, and it was then that it realized it fucked up.
It had released its Qi, and among the many poisons I have in my rockets was the Breath Sealing Poison.
The Breath Sealing poison worked the best against humans but it also had an effect against beasts.
This paralyzed the great scorpion and allowed us to pass right above it with ease.
The look on Yu Liang was memorable, as her face was stunned and her mouth was wide open.
She then rushed up ahead.
Behind her, the group that trusted her followed after, while the ones that doubted were still far behind.
"Suppress your Qi and only let the power of inertia push you forward," I warned.
She understood and did as told, stopping her own Qi from leaving her body and only using the inertia to push her away from the scorpion and the poison's range.
Soon, the guys that were at the back noticing the paralyzed scorpion hurried into their pods and rushed up ahead.
But like I said, I'll only buy a moment, and I can't do it again.
The scorpion began to gain control over his body.
The first to go through the poison and the scorpion was the same person I made a bet with, while the rest desperately tried to hurry past the scorpion.
Many died as the scorpion's rage made it screech releasing a powerful qi wave that repelled both cultivators and the poison away from it.
Several cultivators managed to escape though, but a majority of the 'none believers' just died.
And the worse has yet to come.
"I'd advise that we should start moving," I said.
"Wait, my companions!" she said as she looked back.
The ones who were slow didn't stop their Qi emission and were affected by my breath sealing poison.
They started falling like flies.
"I already warned them to not be late," I said.
However there was one guy that I had to 'save,'.
I left my pod, teleported towards him, and grabbed him.
Just as I left my pod however my token began making a ticking sound.
I can't stay away from my pod for a long time apparently.
I grabbed the man and teleported him away.
Some of the cultivators next to him were smart and fast enough to use a few treasures to release the Breath Sealing poison and escape, while others struggled to even move a muscle. This guy was among the strugglers.
Once I pulled him away, he began shouting, "MY POD! I have to return to my pod!" he said.
"Well gotta pay me first," I said as I took his pouch.
Surprise overwhelmed me when I realized that he had about ten thousand Top Grade Spirit Stone, I took half like I promised and left him there.
Then teleported back to my pod, making the token shut up.
"You're very ruthless and greedy," Yu Liang said.
"He preferred going back to his pod rather than escape death, his life is now depending on his luck, I only took what was mine," I said and then rushed ahead.
For some reason, however, the fucking scorpion ignored him and came after us, stabbing his massive legs into the rocks like they were made of butter.
"We better rush ahead," I said.
And then I took, off.
