Chapter 59: Laying Everything Bare

The mutated beast slowly ambled away.

Meanwhile, the Blood-armored Lizard King and the other giant lizards still lingered nearby. The two of them couldn’t leave, so they simply sat cross-legged amidst the flowers, quietly waiting.

“If I’d known, I would have brought some martial rations with me,” Lu Yan muttered, rubbing his already flat stomach in resignation.

Gurgle...

He heard a rumbling sound beside him and instinctively glanced at the girl.

“What are you looking at? Haven’t you ever seen someone hungry?” she snapped, glaring at him.

Lu Yan couldn’t be bothered to reply. He circulated his energy and blood, maintaining his optimal state.

So they waited—for half a day.

At last, the Blood-armored Lizard King lost patience, let out a few roars, and turned away. With its departure, the other giant lizards naturally dispersed as well.

After waiting a while longer to be safe, the two finally left the field of Bloodthirsty Flowers, carefully skirting the Lizard King’s territory and investigating other areas.

However, they kept a cautious distance from each other, both on their guard.

They hadn’t finished exploring this blood vein, yet they’d already discovered more than thirty giant lizards, one Blood-armored Lizard King, and a mutated Blood-armored Lizard.

The value of such a trove was staggering.

Freshly cooked martial rations fetched ten taels of silver per jin. Uncooked beast meat, of course, sold for less—about three taels per jin on the market. That was the price for first-tier beast meat.

A single Iron-armored Lizard weighed around a thousand jin; after removing useless parts, there would still be at least eight hundred jin of edible meat.

Eight hundred jin of beast meat amounted to 2,400 taels of silver.

How many lizards had they seen already? At least twenty? And there were also second-tier Blood-armored Lizards.

Second-tier beast meat, once cooked into martial rations, was invaluable even to Martial Lords; it was their daily fare for cultivation and sold for several times more.

What’s more, wild beast meat always commanded a premium.

With the Blood-armored Lizard King and mutated Blood-armored Lizard included, the total value exceeded three hundred thousand taels of silver.

And that was just what they’d discovered so far—there could be more.

Furthermore, a second-tier blood vein could be used in the future to continuously breed beasts; it was the foundation for the legacy of noble clans and its value was truly incalculable.

Who wouldn’t be tempted by such riches? Who wouldn’t want to claim it for themselves?

Since ancient times, how many have killed for treasure?

The two of them were strangers—how could they possibly trust each other?

Lu Yan asked himself: if he were confident he could dispatch the girl, would he truly resist the urge to act?

He had no answer.

After another half day, they had explored nearly seventy or eighty percent of the area.

This underground space—or rather, this blood vein—was immense, five li wide and more than twenty li long.

They had found over fifty beasts: about forty Iron-armored Lizards and a dozen Blood-armored Lizards.

Of course, that might not be all of them, since some hid underground in the network of interlaced tunnels.

The value was, without a doubt, astonishing.

If the Liu and Wu clans ever found out, they would go mad.

“You really don’t have to be so wary of me—I won’t kill you,” the girl, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

“Oh?” Lu Yan looked at her, clearly unconvinced.

“First, I’m not confident I could kill you. You’re cautious and extremely strong. My sense is that even if I managed to kill you, I’d pay a heavy price; it isn’t worth it.

Second, the reason we’re both on guard is because of the value here, but to be honest, I’m not particularly interested in it.

As you’ve seen, I’m a martial chef, traveling the world to find various beast meats to improve my culinary skills. What I value is the beast meat here,” she explained.

“How is that any different?” Lu Yan asked.

She had said something similar when she had ambushed him, claiming she only wanted the mutated beast’s heart to improve her skills.

“It’s completely different—vastly different.” She grew serious. “I only need beast meat to refine my craft—it doesn’t take much. Once my skills improve, I won’t need anything else, not even the blood vein itself. You can have it all.

If you don’t believe me, I can swear it by the name of the God of Martial Chefs.”

With that, she raised her right hand and solemnly swore to the heavens.

Lu Yan fell silent, weighing her words.

He couldn’t entirely believe her, but he couldn’t wholly doubt her either.

That was his conclusion.

Clearly, this girl was no ordinary person; the power behind her was surely above the level of Martial Lord clans—perhaps even higher.

Her claim that she had no interest in the value here might not be a complete lie.

Still, he couldn’t trust her fully. The value was simply too great to ignore.

He must remain cautious, he told himself.

As she said, the only reason the girl hadn’t attacked was her lack of confidence in victory—his strength.

Were he any weaker, she would likely have acted without hesitation.

“Very well. I’ll trust you for now,” Lu Yan nodded.

The girl smiled, her eyes narrowing in a way that was strikingly beautiful.

Of course, she knew Lu Yan wouldn’t truly trust her after a few words, but at least by laying things bare, their interaction would be less awkward.

More importantly, she had her own little scheme—she wanted Lu Yan’s help.

A gentle breeze drifted by, carrying much of the blood scent away.

“There’s wind here, which means there must be a passage to the outside nearby—we’re almost out,” Lu Yan noted, gazing into the depths of the blood vein.

The wind was blowing from further within.

They walked another two li deeper and soon reached the end, where a stone wall blocked their path.

But in that wall was a fissure, slanting upward and overgrown with weeds.

A faint wind wafted through the crack.

Here was a way out.

Given that the blood vein stretched over twenty li, the exit should be well outside the encirclement of the two major clans.

The two clans didn’t have the manpower to seal off such a vast area.

Their joy, however, was short-lived—a new problem lay before them.

In front of the fissure lay a Blood-armored Lizard, its entire body dark red, with seven or eight bone spines jutting from its back.

It was a mutated Blood-armored Lizard.

This was not the one they had seen before—that one was elsewhere. This was a second mutated lizard hidden in the blood vein.

Lu Yan felt his breathing grow heavier.

The scapegoat girl’s eyes shone even brighter.

“How about doing me a favor? Work with me to kill this mutated Blood-armored Lizard,” she suggested.

“Not interested. If you want it dead, do it yourself,” Lu Yan refused flatly.

This lizard looked like a tough opponent—armored all over, with bone spines along its back, its size second only to the Lizard King. He had no desire to look for trouble.

“If you won’t help, I’ll do it myself,” the girl said stubbornly. She leapt up, drew her little knife, and aimed for the vulnerable spot on the lizard’s neck.

But as soon as she moved, the mutated lizard noticed, sprang up, and charged at her.

She dared not meet it head-on; those spines were like swords—if she were struck, she’d be run straight through.

She dodged aside, landed, and slashed with her knife.

A scraping sound—her blade met something like metal, leaving only a white mark without piercing the scales.

She put her knife away and tried attacking with her palm, but that too had no effect; she couldn’t break the lizard’s defenses.

After a dozen fruitless exchanges, she retreated. The lizard shook its head, then settled back down in front of the fissure.

“This mutated lizard is blocking the exit. If you don’t join forces with me, you won’t get out either,” she said.

“Not necessarily. We don’t have to kill it—just lead it away,” Lu Yan replied.

He picked up a few large rocks and approached the lizard. When he was near, he hurled the stones at it.

The lizard roared in pain, stood up, and glared at Lu Yan. He turned and ran, but the lizard didn’t give chase—it simply lay back down.

“Haha, see? You can’t lure it away. Better team up with me,” the girl gloated.

“This mutated lizard, though not as strong as a Bone-strength expert, is far stronger than an ordinary fifth-break martial artist. Its hide is thick and tough—even together, we wouldn’t be able to kill it,” Lu Yan said.

“You don’t know until you try! Are we just going to sit here staring at it forever? Starve to death?” the girl retorted.

“Not necessarily. If we want to get rid of this lizard, it’s simple—have you forgotten about the Bloodthirsty Flowers?” Lu Yan reminded her.

“Right! How could I have overlooked that?” The girl clapped her hands in realization.