Chapter 144 The Shadow Trio
HE REFUSED HER concept of “conquering” as it did not align with his. Moreover, it was never part of his intention to do such a thing.
“Is it alright for me to call you, Yueyue?” Yang Lujia asked, avoiding her question about ‘conquering’ her. “If it’s not alright, you can just tell me what to call you. Just don’t make it sound too extreme.”
“Big brother, you can just call me anything,” she replied, shaking her head.
“Alright. Then, Yueyue…” When Yang Lujia called her, it was like her body was electrocuted. For a moment, she had seen flowers around Yang Lujia’s face, as though he was some immortal with peerless handsomeness.
Seeing her dazed out, he called her once more, “Yueyue? Did you hear just what I said? Why is your face so red anyway?”
“N-Nothing,” she stammered. “Anyway, big brother, what did you say just now?”
Yang Lujia sighed as he did not have any clue about what had happened to her. He had a clue, but he was someone who didn’t like to come up with conclusions with no evidence beyond reasonable doubt..
He let out a light cough and said, “You go outside and explain to your sect members about our circumstances. They must be in turmoil right now. Make sure that not a word about anything that happened today gets out of the sect. Otherwise, I’ll find the culprit and silence her myself.”
With that, Yang Lujia disappeared from her sight.
To his surprise, however, Lan Mingyue just stomped her feet and said, with an irritated tone, “I don’t like it! Why did big brother disappear like that! I want to go with him. Next time, I’ll make sure to tie him down, lest he escapes like that again…” hmph!”
“…”
Feeling the chills running down his spine, Yang Lujia scampered away like a cat running for its life. As he finally arrived outside the sect, he heaved a sigh of relief. As light as his steps were, he went through the forest. When he almost reached the end, someone suddenly threw a sharp dagger at him that contained an ominous aura.
As if it was nothing special to dodge, Yang Lujia did not bother about it and it hit his body. However, to the aggressor’s surprise, the dagger just made a clanking sound. When the dagger was about to fall, the assassin from the background threw another dagger. However, while he managed to throw the dagger toward his target, the latter had already disappeared from sight. Moreover, the dagger he threw was even parried by the first dagger he pitched.
“It seems you’re not alone.” A voice chilled the hell out of his body as he instinctively pushed his speed to the fullest, overtaking quite a distance. “I am not in a hurry anyway, so let me play with all three of you.”
‘What the fuck? Why did he find out that we had three people on our side? How did he manage to do it? Fuck! We’re highly skilled Saint Kings!’
‘I didn’t know he was this powerful. It was like I was facing a peak Saint King!’
‘We better get out of here fast. Although the money and treasures given to us were enough to make anyone drool, we’re not that desperate. We, the Shadow Trio, should not waste our lives for mere wealth.’
Their minds were all in turmoil, not knowing what to do. Nodding at themselves, they agreed to hurry their way out of the forest. Even if they were humiliated, the strong would always reign supreme over everything in this world.
“Oh, so you’re actually not idiots,” Yang Lujia said as he grinned. “In fact, I already know who you’re working for. Other than some people who knew I was making my way to the Sirin Grave Sect, none knew about me going there.”
“What?!” they uttered in shock.
“Time Freeze,” Yang Lujia said with a nonchalant face as the whole area around the three people stilled. Not one of them was able to move their bodies, not even the flow of their bodies.
Although the time was strong, it didn’t restrict their consciousness. Hence, they were all aware that Yang Lujia was definitely going to kill them.
With this, he raised his hand. “Well, I don’t see the need to ask you more about this situation. Thus, you’re nothing but useless trash who tried to kill someone stronger than you all.” While the qi was overflowing his body, the three people’s consciousness trembled in fright.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” They could only curse in their minds. “We’re dead! We’re definitely dead!”
“Hahaha!” To their surprise, Yang Lujia put away the qi materializing above his palm. He just looked at them as though he was reading their thoughts. “Although I could stop time, I am still limited to only a few hours in this realm. I don’t know why I didn’t kill you, but I could have killed you in a second. However, I didn’t… What do you think is the answer?”
‘Fuck you! We can’t even move our eyeballs and you asked us about something you need an answer to! What the hell are you playing at?’
“You guys are actually good assassins. At least a peak Saint King wouldn’t be able to find you even if they used their mental power to check the area around them. Unfortunately for me, you met someone like me. Now, since the three of you are Saint Kings, why don’t you serve this lord?”
“What?!” the three of them muttered as soon as the restrictions wore off their bodies. “You’re willing to spare us just to serve you? What if we betrayed you—”
The leader, who was assumed to be the one managing the group of three, immediately slapped the back of his companion’s head and bowed deeply in front of Yang Lujia, who looked like a mortal. When people were able to hide their cultivations like this, it only meant one thing—they were definitely Saint Emperors, and that was just not something they could offend.
If they couldn’t afford to offend peak Saint Kings, much more couldn’t they when faced with an entity more terrifying than them.
“We apologize, my lord. From now on, we now pledge our loyalty to you, our dear master!”
“You’re rogue cultivators?” Yang Lujia smiled.
“Y-Yes…”
“That makes it easier, then,” he replied, carrying a piece of parchment paper in his hand.
When the three of them saw this, their bodies shuddered. Although they already anticipated this outcome, they still could not believe they could not escape.
Who could stop time like that if not a Saint Emperor?!
“I believe you all know about this parchment paper, right? This is actually a blood contract between a master and a servant. Once you drop your blood onto the paper, you will immediately become my servants for your life. Do you want that or do you want the other way?”
The three of them were a bit taken aback when the other party offered another way for them to avoid the blood contract. They were rogue cultivators for a reason—and that was that they did not want to be restricted by any other human or group of people.
“W-What m-method?” the leader asked, not losing the hope that was slowly igniting inside his heart.
The dagger that had fallen to the ground flew to Yang Lujia’s hand as though his hand was a magnet. He tested the sharpness of the dagger by sliding his forefinger on the dagger, making him bleed. He then licked his own blood as he looked at the three with a grin that was like no other demon they had seen.
“What else would it be if not death?” Yang Lujia replied, still grinning from ear to ear.