Chapter 124: I Changed My Mind
“Pulled into the tower? What do you mean?” William was confused. He turned to face the man that gave the warning, recognizing him immediately, “Oh, hi Glen. Why are you here?”
William didn’t see Glen amongst the group of Inner Core Disciples that entered with him ten days ago. It was odd that he was here, but maybe something happened?
“That’s a lot of questions, at least thank me for the warning first.” Glen responded with a slight shake of his head, the sunlight reflecting off his bright-green hair.
“Thanks. Why are you here?”
“Still not chatty? The Sect Master brought me in.”
“You know me. When was that? I didn’t see you with the others.” William wasn’t convinced with Glen’s explanation.
“Ok ok fine,” Glen looked around to make sure no one else was listening. He leaned towards William with a whisper, “I snuck in.”
William’s eyebrows raised, “How did you do that?”
Glen smirked. He snapped his fingers, the hair on his head turning bright yellow. With another snap of his fingers, his hair returned to its natural bright green.
William didn’t have to think much to understand what Glen was trying to convey. He flipped through his memories, thinking back to the yellow haired boy that asked if the Labyrinth was still open.
“I see, but why are you showing me this? I could report you to the Sect Master if I felt like it.” William threatened. He didn’t bother asking what happened to the yellow-haired boy that should have received his ticket to the Ruins.
“Something tells me you don’t feel like it. Not to mention, I know a few things about you, such as that.” he pointed to the Array on William’s shoulder that was hidden under his clothing.
How does he know that? Something isn’t right here. William was becoming increasingly worried.
Glen noticed the flustered look on William’s face and found this to be a great opportunity. “You’re not the first person to suffer the wrath of the Sect Master. I’ve been in the Sect a while and I knew what happened the moment you disappeared from that Arena.
Not just me, but there are a few other Inner Core Disciples that know but are too scared to do something about it. Shit, even the Yu Royal Family turns a blind eye to it since Gu Dianlong always provides a share of the Gravitas Ruins loot.”
William understood immediately. So I’m just another slave put to work in the Ruins?
“How many others are there?” he asked.
“Three, maybe four. Two of them are in the Ruins with us right now. But that’s why I snuck in, to save you all!” Glen had a righteous look on his face.
William could see past Glen’s facade. “Be honest, you also want the loot. Why else would you risk your life to sneak in?”
“Sure, of course. Don’t we all? But the difference is that I can help you and not the other way around. I only want one treasure and you can have the rest. The Sect Master will take all your treasures when you come back anyway.”
The offer wasn’t terrible. William had a few items that weren’t incredibly useful to him. “How do you plan to do it?”
Glen reached into his Space Ring and pulled out a pale white orb with a milky-white fluid sloshing around inside as he moved it, making sure to hide it with his body so only William could see it. It looked very similar to the orb that Supreme Left called in to test William’s Cultivation Talent.
“What is it?”
“You really don’t know much, do you? This is a Qi Orb, which not only tests your Cultivation Talent, but can also be used to store your Qi for later use. It’s actually a very precious item that took me a great amount of effort to steal.” he put it back into the Space Ring.
William chuckled at the last sentence. He knew Glen wasn’t a good person from the start, but he didn’t expect the boy to be so open about it. He actually kind of admired Glen’s honesty.
“Will it work?”
“I’ve been storing Qi in here for a long time. Sometimes mine, sometimes from people I don’t like. It should work.” he shrugged. Glen hadn’t actually tried it before and he wasn’t great with Arrays, but some information he received suggested this would work.
“And what do you want in exchange?” William pulled out a piece of Star Ore and fifty Mana Stones.
Glen’s eyes widened upon seeing the Star Ore.
“Put that away!” he hissed.
William turned his head to see everyone’s eyes on the piece of Star Ore in his hand. Even the Cultivators that were drawing battle plans stopped what they were doing.
He realized his mistake and frantically put the Star Ore and Mana Stones away, but it was too late. A group of around thirty Cultivators from mixed Sects walked over, a large bald-headed man wielding a battleaxe in the lead.
“Was that a Star Ore I just saw? How about giving it to us?” he asked with a toothy smile, his yellow teeth making William want to puke.
William knew where this was going and wasn’t about to play their game. He pulled out ten of his newly created Array Puppets and arranged them in a circular formation around himself and Glen.
He considered leaving Glen out of the formation, but the boy seemed to be his ticket out of slavery and wasn’t a serious threat despite his character.
The sudden appearance of ten Array Puppets spooked the group of Cultivators, but the leader wasn’t worried.
“These puppets are nothing but a hunk of wood. Do you really think they are enough to protect your Star Ore?”
William laughed out loud. The group was obviously underestimating the Puppets. “I think they’re enough.”
“We’ll see about that!” the leader raised his battleaxe in the air and brought it down on one of the Puppets. The bald man grinned when he saw that the Puppet still wasn’t moving as the battleaxe made its descent.
“Clang!” the battleaxe bounced off a protective barrier that was suddenly raised.
The bald man looked up to see a perfectly circular barrier had formed, connecting the Array Puppets to one another and forming a dome over William and Glen’s heads. His battleaxe, which had strength in the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, didn’t even cause a crack in the barrier.
“How is this possible?” the bald man frowned.
The other spectators were also baffled. The Array Puppets didn’t seem too strong on the surface, but that barrier was no joke. Each Cultivator wondered if they could take on the barrier by themselves, and the resounding answer was no.
The bald man might be a bit aggressive, but he wasn’t stupid. He could tell that fighting with William over a piece of Star Ore wasn’t worth it.
“You can hold onto the Star Ore for now.” he said while looking at William. He turned his head and nodded at one of his allied Cultivators, who understood the gesture and motioned for the others to back off.
Glen looked at William, who wasn’t surprised at the outcome. These Cultivators are no match for him…No wonder he dared to openly bring out a piece of Star Ore.
He smiled. This was even better!
“I’ve changed my mind, William.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t want any treasures, just help me out with something.”