27 Negotiation

"Your conditions are a bit too much, you know."

"Are you truly in a position to bargain with me?" A confident smirk was on Cao Shen's lips. "You do realize your condition, don't you?"

Chen Xiaowen didn't have a body, and his soul form was intangible. If not, he would be gritting his teeth to express his frustration. He transmitted, "Fine!"

Cao Shen chuckled triumphantly and disappeared from his position, appearing in the central hub. His eyes took in what was happening; the ignorant idiots were all fighting to claim the segments. Li Luo was fighting against a group, while others were trying to take advantage of the chaos to claim the segments. They were noticed by others, who fought them and tried to claim the segments themselves, turning the area outside the segmented runic patterns to a free-for-all war zone.

Li Luo was in front of him, so she did not notice his appearance. From Kong Xiang's body, a storage sack rose up and vanished. Li Luo had an eye on Kong Xiang, so she noticed this, but everybody else was locked in battle, so it went undetected.

Kong Xiang had a full view of the area, so he could see the newcomer as soon as he entered. He was also perplexed when the storage sack he stored all the herbs and rare plants in this secret realm was removed from its hiding place and suddenly vanished. He moved his eyes up to see the stranger make a grabbing motion towards Li Luo and she was sucked into his arms, after which he took out a talisman and activated it, disappearing entirely.

"Li Luo" He tried hard to shout her name, but his paralyzed body impeded his vocal chords. His eyes now held an additional worry about Li Luo's well-being.

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Outside the secret realm, an observant elder from the Zero Firmament Sect noticed a ripple in the passage, but he didn't notice anything else. The Steel Crest Sect Leader asked him, "Is anything wrong?"upon seeing him pause.

"I thought I saw something flicker through the passage' He shook his head, "It's probably nothing, though."

They all looked at the passage and spread their senses to verify there was no intruder. When they noticed nothing, they resumed their conversations.

Three miles away, Cao Shen's flashing figure stopped, letting go of Li Luo who bent and vomited.

She recovered and looked in front of her to see Cao Shen smirking as he ruffled through a storage sack.

"We have to go back...Kong...Kong Xiang, we have to get him," She shouted urgently.

"I expected you to ask who I am, and why I suddenly made off with you."

Li Luo's eyes were bloodshot. She begged, "Please take me back and save him. Please."Seeing this stranger's indifferent chuckle, she gritted her teeth and ignited her Origin Pool, making a dash backwards.

"What are you doing?" Cao Shen stared in shock as this crazy girl ignited her cultivation. This action was usually done as a last dish effort to survive, as it destroyed the cultivation base entirely when it burnt out, all in an exchange for a last burst of energy. With a move, he immobilized her and stopped her self-destructive action.

"You took his storage sack."

"I made a deal with Chen Xiaowen to not disturb his plans in exchange for the rare herbs in his subspace. Technically, all the herbs your 'whoever-he-is-to-you' found belonged to Chen Xiaowen in the first place"

"You have to get him out of them. Even if it's repayment for the herbs you took from his possession."

"He is not qualified to bargain with me" He paused. "And truth be told, with your present Cultivation, you aren't either.

Now, I guess I should knock you out"

"Don't you dare!" She had wasted most of her qi in the battle earlier, and a few moments ago, she ignited her reserve, so her thoughts was all wobbly and she couldn't use any origin energy at all right now.

"So noisy." A palm from Cao Shen loomed over her vision, targeting her temples.

"I will kill you for this" Li Luo whispered right before she lost consciousness.