Chapter 23: Picking Up Leftovers? Mysterious Black Iron Scroll

Everyone in the mercenary group was taken aback by Wei Yang's words, and no one immediately responded. Silence prevailed.

«Does no one know?» Wei Yang frowned.

«Sir…»

A female mercenary who seemed to be the leader bit her lip, raised her hand, and nervously stepped forward. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke, «Sir, I know. We can take you to Stone Desert City.»

Wei Yang's expression softened, and he nodded. «Lead the way then.»

Simultaneously, he decided that once he reached Stone Desert City, he would immediately procure a detailed map of the Tagore Desert.

«Yes, sir.» The female mercenary was overjoyed upon hearing this. She quickly turned to gather her teammates to set off.

On the other side, the triangular-eyed snake leader grew anxious seeing this unfold. He regretted not sending someone back to notify their commander about the mysterious item the human mercenaries had taken from the underground ancient city's ruins. Instead, he chose to pursue them himself, driven by greed for credit.

Originally, there wouldn't have been any problems; their strength was sufficient to annihilate the human mercenaries. But now, unexpected complications had arisen.

Despite his fear, the snake leader gritted his teeth and spoke up, «Sir, these people stole our tribe's treasure…»

Before he could finish his sentence, the female mercenary leader turned around, glaring at him with anger, and interrupted, «You're talking nonsense!» Her fellow mercenaries also displayed their indignation.

«Sir,» the female mercenary respectfully addressed Wei Yang, «that black iron scroll is something our squad found in an underground palace of the ancient city's ruins. They happened to see it and tried to snatch it from us, which led to the pursuit.»

The triangular-eyed snake person retorted, «That underground ancient city is now occupied by our snake tribe. You sneaked in and stole our treasure.»

«You shameless creature!» The female mercenary's chest heaved with anger, creating an alluring curve. She placed a hand on her waist and shouted, «That ancient city has been explored by countless people over the decades. It's always been open for exploration. Since when did it become your tribe's territory?»

«Our tribe decided to occupy it only recently, so it now belongs to us,» the snake person replied.

«You…» The female mercenary trembled with rage and was about to retort further.

«Enough.» Wei Yang frowned, impatiently waving his hand to stop the argument.

The female mercenary immediately fell silent, bowing her head respectfully.

Wei Yang turned to the snake people, raising his right hand. Red battle energy appeared in his palm, and he struck out with a palm attack.

Instantly, a crimson energy lion appeared out of thin air, vivid and lifelike, with golden-hued mane exuding a powerful and terrifying aura.

Everyone present, both human mercenaries and snake people, felt a wave of oppressive energy that made them weak in the knees.

Roar~ The energy lion charged towards the snake people, its mouth opening wide to let out a deafening roar.

Buzz~ The human mercenaries' minds went blank, their eardrums buzzing, unable to hear anything else.

As for the snake people, they were swept by a shockwave, their bodies exploding like ragdolls.

Following this, the energy lion continued its attack.

Boom!!! A massive explosion ensued, lifting sand and dust into the air.

Wei Yang, expressionless, lowered his hand and pulled Ye Xian'er into his arms. A layer of battle energy formed a protective shield around them, blocking the dust.

He waved his hand again, a strong wind clearing the surrounding sand and dust quickly.

Where the snake people had stood, a large pit now appeared, steaming hot. Some sand had melted into crystalline forms.

The snake people were nowhere to be seen, completely annihilated.

«That solves it. They insisted on seeking death and disturbed my peace,» Wei Yang said softly.

The human mercenaries, still covering their buzzing ears, looked at the scene with fear, their legs trembling.

Wei Yang gestured towards the pit, and a dark silver storage ring flew out, landing in his hand.

Strong soul force surged out, breaking the lingering mark inside the ring, and he scanned its contents.

Soon, Wei Yang withdrew his soul force and frowned slightly.

It was the triangular-eyed snake person's storage ring, a low-grade one with only a cubic meter of space inside and nothing of significant value.

Wei Yang turned his gaze to the female mercenary leader.

She trembled as she stepped forward. «Sir… we'll take you to Stone Desert City right away…»

«Alright, let's go.» Wei Yang casually tossed the storage ring to her. «Consider this your payment.»

«Thank you, sir.» The female mercenary's eyes lit up as she caught the ring, overjoyed.

A storage ring!

The mercenaries looked on with a mix of surprise and envy.

Even the lowest-grade storage ring was worth tens of thousands of gold coins, and if it had a slightly larger space, the price would double.

Their entire squad of fifteen couldn't afford even the cheapest storage ring with all their combined wealth.

This unexpected turn of events had not only saved them from the snake people but also brought them a great fortune.

The female mercenary carefully put away the storage ring, quickly instructing her team to prepare for departure. She then eagerly moved to lead the way for Wei Yang.

«Sir, it's about a hundred miles from here to Stone Desert City. At our speed, we should arrive by dusk,» she said.

«Okay.» Wei Yang nodded indifferently, holding Ye Xian'er's hand and admiring the desert scenery along the way.

There wasn't much to see, just endless yellow sand. Occasionally, they would come across a small oasis, like green gems dotting the sea of sand.

After a while, Wei Yang lost interest and withdrew his gaze.

Ye Xian'er, however, continued to look around curiously.

«Sir, my name is Annie,» the female mercenary leader said cautiously.

«Oh.» Wei Yang glanced at her and nodded slightly.

Annie?

Damn!

Sensing Ye Xian'er's sidelong glance and feeling her hand tighten in his grasp, Wei Yang almost wanted to slap Annie.

Is she causing trouble?

The mercenary named Annie seemed to be contemplating something. Perhaps seeing Wei Yang's amicable demeanor, her courage gradually returned. After some hesitation, she took a deep breath and pulled out a black iron scroll from a pouch at her waist.

«Sir, this is what we found in the hidden altar beneath the underground palace of the ancient city's ruins. We don't know what it is. If you're interested, I'd like to offer it to you.» Annie held the black iron scroll respectfully with both hands.

«Oh?» Wei Yang's gaze fell casually on the black iron scroll.

Initially, he didn't care much. Based on the earlier conversation between the mercenaries and the snake people, it was clear that the so-called ancient city's ruins had been around for decades, explored by countless people. What good could be left for a squad of nine-star Dou Fighters to find?

How could there still be anything worth picking up?

However, when Wei Yang's eyes settled on the black iron scroll, they narrowed.

«Interesting.»

Wei Yang was surprised as he took the black iron scroll and examined it closely.

He noticed that the soul force he casually directed at the scroll had disappeared upon contact.

Intrigued, he focused more seriously, channeling his soul force into the scroll again, only for it to vanish once more.

It disappeared without a trace.

This black iron scroll seemed like an endless abyss, swallowing all the soul force he directed into it!

Wei Yang's expression grew serious as he continued to channel his soul force into the scroll.

Powerful waves of soul force surged from his hand into the black iron scroll.

After a while, feeling a bit fatigued, Wei Yang reluctantly stopped.

Looking at the old, unremarkable black iron scroll in his hand, Wei Yang couldn't help but take a deep breath, astonished and excited.

Had he really stumbled upon a treasure?

Although he was currently only at the Dou Ling level, his soul strength was comparable to, if not exceeding, that of a typical Dou Huang expert.

Yet, all this formidable soul force was absorbed by the black iron scroll as if it had vanished into thin air!

(End of Chapter)