Chapter 10
“Mind your own business! Who do you think you are?”
The woman wore a hostile expression. Although her body was still limp in Ward Jimmy’s arms, the words she spoke were full of conviction. Combined with her wide-eyed stare, she actually looked somewhat cute at first glance.
“Who wants to bother with you?” Ward Jimmy frowned. Though he said nothing, he tightened the bandages around his hand slightly.
“Ow!” The woman cried out in pain. She hated the fact that she had no strength at the moment; otherwise, she would have used her spiritual skills to disable that scoundrel!
“Stop crying. I know you’re not that delicate.” Ward Jimmy tied an ugly bow around her head, considering it a proper bandage.
When he picked up the medicine bottle earlier, he noticed that this woman wore a jade pendant around her waist. The patterns carved on it seemed to belong to the Byzantine imperial family. But how could members of the imperial family appear in such a place? It was likely that this woman was actually a lower-ranking official from the imperial household.
Why would the royal family send a corporal to Taoshan to retrieve the Divine Beast King’s inner essence? There must be something suspicious behind this.
“Thank you…” The woman’s gaze lingered on the bow for a moment. It seemed like she wasn’t very impressed with Ward Jimmy’s tying skills.
“I’ve set up a barrier in this area, which can disrupt the sense of smell of lower-tier spiritual beasts. You can rest peacefully for now. After all, if higher-tier spiritual beasts came here, there’s no way you’d be able to escape.”
After saying that, Ward Jimmy got up and left. He had no intention of staying there for long. He still needed to fetch water for Vanny Jimmy.
Ward Jimmy took a few steps, then expanded his magical perception. Although the range was only five hundred meters, it was sufficient for him to locate the water source.
It’s a small stream in the southwest. Although it’s water, it looks extremely turbid. Even the plants around it have withered away.
How could this be?
Ward Jimmy picked a leaf, knelt down, and gently placed it in the water. In less than a quarter of an hour, the leaf was completely corroded. Ward Jimmy looked toward the source of the stream. It was the foothills of Peach Mountain. There were no more peach trees there. Hidden beneath the shade of the trees were countless high-level spiritual beasts.
In the past, he might have gone to find out more about those spiritual beast inner cores. But now it’s different. He can’t take any risks. He can’t leave Vanny Jimmy behind.
We can only change the location to one place.
Ward Jimmy sighed and had no choice but to walk back silently. While water was important, he also needed to check on Vanny Jimmy. After all, what if some spirit beast with better vision than smell managed to get inside the barrier?
Fortunately, what he feared didn’t happen. Vanny Jimmy was still there, and so was the injured woman.
Ward Jimmy tilted his head and thought for a moment. Why not just ask the woman directly? If she was able to find the Spirit Beast King, it meant she must have made thorough preparations or had been lurking in Peach Mountain for days. She likely knew where the water source was.
“Do you know where the water source is?” Ward Jimmy crouched down to be at the woman’s eye level.
After hearing Ward Jimmy’s words, the woman blinked and said, “I know. But you’ll have to exchange it with the Spirit Beast King’s inner core! Otherwise, if you try to find water from every source within five hundred miles, you’ll probably die of thirst before you even get a chance to drink a single drop of water.”
When the woman said this, her expression was so confident, as though Ward Jimmy had already given her the inner essence.
Ward Jimmy, a man who’s over seven feet tall, actually being threatened by a woman? But from what she said, it seems that most of the water sources within a five-hundred-mile radius have been polluted. It’s certainly not easy to find a source of drinkable water. But giving her the Inner Elixir of the Spirit Beast King just to get access to water seems like a very poor deal.
As if she could read Ward Jimmy’s thoughts, the woman continued:
“Don’t blame me for not telling you earlier. More than half of the water sources within five hundred miles have been polluted by magical beasts living in the mountains. If you really need to drink water, I can give you some to tide you over. But if you try to find water to drink in the future, it’ll be very difficult.”
But it’s not that simple to get the inner core of a Spiritual Beast King. I’ve noticed that the skills you display among the beasts are truly extraordinary. Even magical beasts would likely try to avoid you due to those skills. How about this? In exchange for the water source, you can get the inner core of a Spiritual Beast King, which isn’t difficult to find at all. It’s a fair deal, isn’t it?
At first glance, the woman’s words seem reasonable. But upon closer consideration, who would waste the Spirit Beast King’s inner core, which they’ve already obtained, just for the sake of a source of water?
“High Elven, what’s your opinion?”
Ward Jimmy thought to himself, after all, it was the inner essence needed by the high elf demon lord within his body. He couldn’t just return it without permission, could he? He needed to consult with the demon lord first, to avoid any negative consequences during his cultivation later on.
“No,” the voice of the High Elf echoed in Ward Jimmy’s mind. “There is no second Earth Demon King in Peach Mountain.”
It turns out that the high elves didn’t want the inner core of the Beast King at all. They only wanted the inner core of the Earth Demon King.
Could it be that they resemble each other in appearance? Is that why the inner alchemy is easier to digest and absorb?
That’s what Ward Jimmy thought.
“It’s indeed not a loss.” Having received instructions from the high elves, Ward Jimmy spoke up. Just as a glimmer of hope appeared in the woman’s eyes, Ward Jimmy continued with the rest of his words.
“But I refuse to agree.”
“Why!” The woman screamed these words out loud.
“Don’t you really want a source of water? If I tell you where it is, you give me the Spirit Beast King’s inner core. That way, we can both get what we want, right?”
“Okay, but who told you that I only want the water source? I want both the water source and the Spirit Beast King’s inner core.”
Ward Jimmy wore a completely inoffensive smile. Ignoring the woman’s murderous glare, he asked the question that had been on his mind.
“Speaking of which, why are you so obsessed with this inner core? According to what you said, there should be quite a few Spirit Beasts King here. We could simply form a team for now. Next time we encounter one, we can work together. That way, we won’t have to compete with you for it.”
“What do you know!”
The woman’s beautiful eyes seemed to be about to spout sparks. Ward Jimmy thought that if anger had a physical form, he would surely have been destroyed by it.
“There are indeed many Spirit Beast Kings, but there’s only one Earth Demon King! Throughout the entire Byzantine Empire, the only place where one can find an Earth Demon King is Taoshan!”
As she spoke, tears began to stream down the woman’s cheeks. It was unclear whether she was angry or upset.
It turns out they all just wanted the Earth Fiend King’s inner core. No wonder she tried every trick in the book to get her hands on it.
It’s a pity that the ancestor within Ward Jimmy’s energy core disagreed. Otherwise, maybe Ward Jimmy would have given it back to her out of kindness.
After all, he couldn’t stand it when girls cried.
“Why bother with the Earth Demon King? The Tree Demon’s inner essence is obviously more valuable, isn’t it?” Ward Jimmy asked tentatively.
The woman glared at him, wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, and said:
“Because that’s the ingredient needed to save our princess. Without it, the princess will die!”
“The Byzantine princess is about to die?”
Ward Jimmy widened his eyes slightly. Although there hadn’t been much communication between the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire in the past two years, the two were still sister nations after all. Why hadn’t any news of the Byzantine princess’s serious illness reached Rome? After all, once the Byzantines asked for help, the Roman Empire would surely extend a hand.
