Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 141 - 141 0151 Absolutely No Compulsion

Chapter 141: Chapter 0151: Absolutely No Compulsion Chapter 141: Chapter 0151: Absolutely No Compulsion Seeing the various native cultivators of the Lianying Realm, especially those who appeared harmonious with the Cai family but actually wished for their downfall, becoming slightly unsettled, Qi Tian knew that half of his plan had been successful. He said to Hu Niu, “Grab the Head of the Cai family, and let’s find a secluded place. If anybody wants to ransom the Head of Cai family, come and find me and we can negotiate privately. Don’t say I didn’t warn you: I don’t have much time. By tomorrow, I will return to the Imperial Master Mansion. If by that time, you can’t gather the ransom money, wait to collect the corpse of the Head of Cai family. I don’t mind staining my hands with a little more blood.”

Hu Niu lowered her head and bit into Cai Qilong with her gaping mouth who was already unconscious, then followed Qi Tian leisurely toward the safe house.

“Chu Yang, is this the quality of the disciples from your Imperial Master Mansion? You let him insult us like this?” One of the elders of the Cai family made a last-ditch effort, hoping Chu Yang would intervene.

Although Chu Yang was somewhat dissatisfied with Qi Tian’s direct action against Cai Qilong, as the person in charge from the Imperial Master Mansion present there, he still had a grasp on the overall situation. He snorted coldly, “When you treated our disciples from the Imperial Master Mansion like animals to be sold, where was your ‘quality’ then? This is merely repaying you with your own methods. I advise you, if you do not want to incite a full-scale war between Imperial Master Mansion and the Lianying Realm, gather your money quickly. Did Qi Tian idle talk when ransoming people just now?”

The elder of Cai family was speechless at Chu Yang’s words. Apart from his indignation, there was nothing he could do.

Qi Tian didn’t return to the safe house but went to a place with a few large rocks. Hu Niu carelessly threw Cai Qilong on the ground. Qi Tian checked Cai Qilong’s body and found a Storage Bag, a Storage Ring, and a few Spirit Military wearables, which he swiftly seized without any courtesy. However, he still preserved Cai Qilong’s dignity, leaving his Spirit Armor and Spirit Robe untouched. Afterwards, Qi Tian leapt into the air and landed on top of a rock. He casually sat down and quietly waited for someone to deliver the ransom.

Wang Haiyan led Li Xue and others to follow. They all regretted their decisions a bit now. Had they known Qi Tian had such means, they should have united with him to pay for the ransom. That way, they could have completely been on Qi Tian’s side, and not only could they have taken their ransom back, but they might have even received additional benefits. Now, they could only assist Qi Tian.

Without Qi Tian’s command, Wang Haiyan and others formed a small circle near the large rocks, effectively creating a barrier to prevent outsiders from approaching at will.

It didn’t take long for a masked man to approach. Wang Haiyan stopped him. The man was unwilling to reveal his identity and only said that he had come to pay a ransom.

After asking Qi Tian, Wang Haiyan brought the masked man before Qi Tian.

“Sir, my master says that as long as you kill this old thief Cai Qilong, my master is willing to pay thirty million coins,” said the masked man.

“So, I just have to kill someone based on your word? Where’s your sincerity?” Qi Tian replied flatly.

“My master asked me to bring one million coins, that’s the deposit. The rest will be handed over to you once you kill Cai Qilong,” the masked man continued.

“Are you stupid, or am I? Hu Niu, get this idiot out of here.”

With a wave from Qi Tian, Hu Niu roared and charged at the masked man. The masked man was not weak, but neither was he strong — he was around the Qi Cultivation 7th Level.

The native cultivators had become wiser and dared not send anyone too powerful. No matter how powerful they were, could they surpass Cai Qilong? Qi Tian subdued him like he was disciplining a dog. If Qi Tian took another powerful cultivator as a hostage and demanded ransom, wouldn’t they cry to death?

Being not too powerful had its advantages and disadvantages. Like now, as Hu Niu charged, the masked man had no strength to fight back, and was sent flying by Hu Niu with a single swipe. The man tumbled to the ground and couldn’t get up for quite a while.

“Wang Haiyan, go and tell those native cultivators that I do small-scale business here, with no credit allowed. If anyone tries to trick me, I will kill him and feed him to the Golden Flur Tiger,” said Qi Tian indifferently.

“Yes.” Wang Haiyan promptly responded, then jogged off to deliver Qi Tian’s message.

It wasn’t long before another native cultivator arrived, saying in a muffled voice, “My master hopes that you could release the Master of the Cai family. However, my master can’t afford the thirty million coins. We can only provide three million coins now as part of the ransom for the Master of the Cai family. Please add it to the total ransom money from others who also want to ransom him.”

This man did not talk much. Instead, he dropped a money bag and turned away.

After that, several native cultivators who did not wear masks came one after another, all hoping to redeem the Head of the Cai family. However, none of them readily donated the full thirty million, each only leaving one to two million coins before leaving.

Looking at the gradually accumulated coins, Qi Tian’s mouth corners revealed a faint smile. The Cai family indeed had some capabilities, they were able to force all parties to pool money together to redeem Cai Qilong in such a short period of time, which was indeed remarkable. But Qi Tian firmly believed in one point: the power wishing Cai Qilong dead was definitely stronger than the power wishing him alive. He had good enough reasons to believe that he would certainly be able to sell Cai Qilong at a good price.

Just at this moment, another masked man came over. His face was fully covered, leaving only a pair of eyes visible. He bowed to Qi Tian and was about to speak when Qi Tian took the initiative first: “Master Huang, I didn’t expect we’d meet so soon.”

The masked man’s body shivered for a moment, but he quickly calmed down. His voice seemed a bit high-pitched, saying, “I think you must have mistaken me for someone else. I am not any Master Huang.”

“Heh, you might be able to deceive others, but not me. We’ve fought shoulder to shoulder before, I can’t be mistaken.” Qi Tian was bragging a bit with this statement. However, his judgement was not based on his sharp eyesight but on the Heavenly Dao Engine’s identical responses to this masked man and Rune Master Huang Zhong. Qi Tian’s judgement might be wrong, but the Heavenly Dao Engine would not.

With the Heavenly Dao Engine’s sensation at the forefront, Qi Tian carefully observed this masked man’s every move, naturally being able to spot numerous flaws in the masked man.

The masked man fell silent. He wanted to deny his identity, but quickly scrapped the idea. Though he had fought alongside Qi Tian, it was limited to breaking through a Rune Gate together, there was no deep friendship between them. If Qi Tian turned hostile like he did with Cai Qilong, he had no retaliatory power at all.

The circumstances were more compelling than people. The masked man reached out and pulled down his hood, revealing his face. If it wasn’t Huang Zhong, then who could it be?

“Qi Tian, your eyesight is truly good. I concede.” Huang Zhong bowed again.

Qi Tian burst into laughter, saying, “Why is Master Huang here making a fuss? Do you want me to kill Cai Qilong?”

Huang Zhong’s heart jolted. He did come this time to represent a particular power, wishing to offer a large sum of money for Qi Tian to kill Cai Qilong. However, he didn’t expect Qi Tian to recognize him. If he continued insisting on Qi Tian to kill Cai Qilong, then an uncontrollable situation would arise – would Qi Tian turn and sell him out? If the Cai family learnt about it and, unable to confront Qi Tian, vented their anger on him and his backers, it would be a disaster for them.

“Just joking, Qi Tian you’re just joking.” Huang Zhong replied awkwardly.

“If you’re not here to have me kill Cai Qilong, are you here to reminisce with me? Or to amuse me?” His face darkened as Qi Tian spoke.

In his desperation, Huang Zhong hastily said, “I really did come to reminisce with you, Qi Tian. To be precise, after breaking into Wu Jin Xiu’s secret room, didn’t I promised to transcribe a copy of the Gold Rune Volume I took for you? Due to unforeseen circumstances, I’ve been procrastinating until today. Seeing that you were about to leave, I came to give you the Gold Rune Volume.”

As Huang Zhong spoke, he heartachingly took out a brocade box and handed it to Qi Tian.

Qi Tian opened the brocade box to find that the original Gold Rune Volume was inside. He laughed and said, “Master Huang, I remember we agreed that you keep this Gold Rune Volume and transcribe a copy for me. Are you sure you want to give me this original?”

“Absolutely certain. Qi Tian, with your brilliant talent, only in your hands can the Gold Rune Volume fully reveal its value. If it remains in my hands, it would be a waste.” Huang Zhong hurriedly replied.

“Really? You are not reluctant?” Qi Tian smiled, “My request is not high, a copy is enough.”

“Absolutely genuine, absolutely not reluctant.” Huang Zhong was bleeding inside. On one hand, he ached at having to hand over the original Gold Rune Volume to Qi Tian. Just like an original and a transcription, their values differed by many folds. On the other hand, during the transcription, he deliberately withheld some parts, not copying some contents from the Gold Rune Volume to the copy, even misspelled a few words. He didn’t want another Rune Master who could compete with him to appear at the Lianying Realm, but his attempt to wound others has backfired. Now he could only hand the original to Qi Tian, while he was left with the error-ridden copy. He could only how that he could recall all the details of the Gold Rune Volume, which would allow him time to correct the errors in the copy. Otherwise, using a flawed copy to practice Runes would bring disaster.