Chapter 157: Life-Threatening

Sword Heart was already heavily injured!

According to her plan, she was supposed to at least obtain three beacons. If she did, her trip here would have been worth it.

However, just one minute after she obtained the first beacon, she was suddenly attacked by two first-grade Dao realm cultivators!

She had not been able to react at all. There had been no warning whatsoever!

An enemy?

No…

It should not be!

Their artifact spirit race did not have any enemies!

Was a single beacon worth killing someone over?

No…

That was impossible.

This was something that was hard to understand. After all, a single beacon was meaningless in the wider picture of the hunt.

Why?

Why did this happen?!

Sword Heart’s palms were covered in sweat.

She quickly ran around the Black Mountains, trying her best to conceal her aura in order to escape.

If she had been running from just one person, this might have worked.

However, there were two first-grade Dao realm participants chasing her. Escaping their grasp was almost impossible!

After those two had suddenly attacked her, they followed her around unhurriedly. It was obvious that they had no intention of killing her, and seemed to just be toying around with her.

She could not understand why they were doing this.

However, she was still clear-headed.

Although she was being pursued, she still made her decision calmly. If they wanted to kill her, and she could not escape, then she would bring them to the most dangerous place in the Black Mountains…

The lake at the center!

If you have the guts, then follow me!

If you dare to show yourself and attract everyone’s attention, then come!

“This participant from the artifact spirit race doesn’t seem to have thought things through.”

“Yeah…”

The two enemies who were calmly following behind her were very relaxed.

They knew what Sword Heart was planning. She was obviously trying to drag them down with her, daring them to either follow her or give up the chase.

However, the competition had only begun three days ago. Right now, no one dared to wander around the center of Black Mountains.

After a simple conversation, the two of them awaited their orders from outside.

The order would probably arrive in five minutes.

If the order was to let Sword Heart live, they would give up on hunting her down.

If the order was to kill Sword Heart immediately, then they would rush forward and attack her.

As for where that order would come from, it was actually quite simple.

…

Outside the Black Mountains, inside the 10,000-meter-tall building, two members of the myriad races walked up to the old man from the artifact spirit race and greeted him.

“How are you?”

“Ah, hello.”

The old man looked at the two of them in confusion.

After shaking off his confusion, he recognized these two to be a dwarf and a murloc.

The murlocs looked like fishes that had gained limbs and the ability to walk upright. Their bodies were covered in slippery scales, and they had two whiskers that looked like catfish growing from the corners of their mouths.

When they spoke, their mouths would emit a unique muddy stench, and their fish eyes would move around in their eye sockets.

The dwarves were small and had emerald green skin. They were about half a meter tall. Despite their short stature, they had strong bodies.

They had three fingers.

The third finger was longer than the second finger, and the thumb was the smallest one.

Then, before the old man could say anything further, the murloc smiled and said to the old man, “Please allow me to briefly explain the situation.”

“First of all, Sword Heart from your race has already obtained a beacon. For this we must congratulate you.”

“Secondly, Sword Heart is already being hunted down by two first-grade Dao realm participants from our two races.”

“Lastly, if you wish to preserve the life of Sword Heart, please pay up.”

After saying that, the murloc took out a square-shaped device.

This square-shaped device was what allowed them to communicate with their clansmen participating in the hunt.

In other words…

The reason why those two had attacked Sword Heart was due to the orders from outside, and whether they would kill her or spare her depended on the old man’s response.

If the old man wanted her to live, he would have to give them resources which were equivalent to 60% of the amount needed to nurture Sword Heart.

After the old man heard their words, his face was filled with intense anger.

“You’re breaking the rules! Outsiders like us have no right to interfere with the hunt!”

“I’m going to report this to the Tiandu division!”

“The Tiandu division will arbitrate this fairly!”

The old man scolded angrily.

When he heard the amount of money the other party was asking for, he was furious.

It was akin to robbing them!

The murloc laughed.

“Alright, alright, alright. We’ve already thoroughly studied the rules of the hunt.”

“The hunt doesn’t allow us outsiders to enter the Black Mountains. We are even forbidden from helping any of the participants in any way.”

At this point, the person turned to look at the person-in-charge of the Tiandu division, who was wearing a mask.

He laughed in an ugly, bold, and heartless way.

“But the rules didn’t say that we can’t issue orders.”

“We’re just issuing orders to our clansmen. We’re not helping them.”

“If you want, you can do it too.”

“How about this?”

“I’ll have my clansmen give Sword Heart the communicator.”

“You can use the communicator to provide her with assistance.”

“Hahahaha!”

The murlocs and the dwarves were obviously taking advantage of a loophole in the rules of the hunt, but that was how the world was.

If there was no explicit prohibition, the participants would definitely find all kinds of ways to take advantage of ite.

The fact that the officials were turning a blind eye to it was testament to the fact that it was tacitly approved of. Otherwise, they would have been more detailed and thorough with the rules.

It was obvious that this was intentional!

“Don’t tell me that there’s really someone who thinks that the hunt is fair?”

“No way, no way!”

“Hahaha!”

When the murloc said that last sentence, he held his belly and laughed so hard that he started convulsing.