Chapter 1657: Ransom

The Zhao Tribe mobilized a total of six elites. This clearly was not their full strength. They probably thought that this would be enough to suppress Ling Han and his group.

Ling Han was internally displeased. His eyes swept over them, and he declared, “You guys had better not trifle with me, or he won’t be the only person lying here.”

“How dare you!!” the six of them rebuked at the same time.

Though they were not elders, every single one of them could be called a Nine Rings elite, being comparable to the early stage or even middle stage of Saint King Tier.

“Capture him!”

The six of them moved, and attacked Ling Han in unison.

Ling Han casually grabbed the large man from before, holding his ankle. Using him like a weapon, he smashed him into the six elites.

Hu

, he brandished the human staff in a powerfully imposing manner.

The large man’s expression had turned green from fear. He hurriedly channeled his strength throughout his body. Otherwise, if he was. .h.i.t or struck by his clansmen, he would definitely be crushed into a b.l.o.o.d.y mush.

And those six had no choice but to leap aside and dodge to avoid wounding their clansman by accident.

“Fighting with a hostage in hand, what kind of man are you!” they provoked.

“None of your business!” Ling Han gave a battle cry, and charged towards the six of them with his “powerful weapon”, wielding the large man like he was holding a sword.

Weng, weng, weng

, he actually did manage to channel Sword Qi through him, and it was continuously surging out of the large man’s body.

This caused the large man to suffer. Even if he focused all his power on defense, how could he possibly bear Ling Han’s sword intent? Lacerations immediately formed in his flesh, and he was badly mutilated.

Ling Han was fired up from the fight, and casually tossed the large man to one side. Then, he charged into the group of six.

Peng, peng, peng

. Throwing out punches and kicks, he soon suppressed the six of them.

With his extreme speed, there was no one that could manage to escape.

Xiao Gu watched from the sidelines, its head slanted to one side. At present, it was like a sponge, continuously absorbing everything around it, and in its heart, Ling Han clearly had the greatest influence on it, so every move and gesture it had was a copy of Ling Han’s.

Ling Han stood, his hands crossed behind his back. Since things had reached this point, he did not want to easily stop, either.

After a while, more elites came from the Zhao Tribe. There were even more this time round, and had reached 100.

Ling Han couldn’t help but feel rueful. There really were a lot of elites here.

These 100 people were all Nine Rings elites, and there were even over a dozen of them whose nine rings were all black as ink. They had reached the level of peak stage Saint King.

Seeing so many fated enemies, Xiao Gu’s eyes had already turned green. Thankfully, it still remembered Ling Han’s words. It lowered its head, and did not make any move, nor did it allow others to discover its unusual state.

Its intelligence was gradually increasing, also becoming more human-like.

“Release the hostages!” an old man who wore a feathered crown that was 15 meters tall spoke up. HIs feathered crown was the longest. Clearly, he was the chief of the Zhao Tribe. His face was ice cold, his eyes burning with flames of rage that blazed like lightning.

Ling Han shook his head, and answered, “Old man, I do not like your commanding tone. Change your att.i.tude before you speak again.”

“You’re courting death!” An elder moved.

Hong

, as a giant hand stretched out, multiple black veined patterns appeared, and the sun, moon, and stars could vaguely be seen, but it was a completely different cultivation technique from the Ancient Realm.

Ling Han shot out his own punch, striving against the incoming attack, and not backing down the slightest bit.

Boom!

After the clash, that elder’s figure wavered, and he revealed a sliver of surprise in his expression.

In his eyes, Ling Han’s aura was considerably weaker than his own. Previously, he had exchanged blows with outsiders, so even though they did not belong to the same system of cultivation, it helped him to make a judgement of Ling Han’s strength.

But this exchange of blows was far beyond his expectations. The other party was actually not the slightest bit weaker than himself.

“Ahem!” The chief of the Zhao Tribe opened his mouth. He stretched out a hand and made a pressing gesture with it, signaling that elder not to make any further moves. He said, “Outsider, if you want to ask for pa.s.sage, we will allow you to pa.s.s! Release the hostages immediately, and make your apologies to us, in accompaniment with some gifts to show your apology.”

“Chief!” all the elders exclaimed in shock. Wasn’t this letting them off too lightly?

The Zhao Tribe’s chief shook his head slightly, and softly said, “Focus on the greater picture!”

Recently, they were mulling over starting a war with the Lang Tribe, and they naturally could not allow any unexpected events to take place at this point in time. After all, Ling Han had already proven that his strength could not be underestimated.

All the elders were extremely angry, but did not voice out any more objection. They all secretly decided that when Ling Han and his group returned, they would definitely teach them a lesson.

He wanted to explore the secret of the source of the upper course? He had to be delusional!

All the ancestors of the various tribes had long since worked together to explore that place, but they were not allowed to approach at all. Forcefully barging in would only lead to death, and the final result for Ling Han and his group of outsiders would only be to come back the same way they had come.

They all looked at Ling Han. These people were really let off too lightly; they would be allowed to live a few more days.

Ling Han shook his head, and said, “Please do not misunderstand, I have not come to ask for pa.s.sage! These seven people are presently all hostages, so name your offer. If I am satisfied with the price, I will return them to you. Otherwise, they will be killed on the spot, freshness guaranteed!”

‘You actually f******* dare to blackmail us?’

All the elites of the Zhao Tribe were furious, and even the chief of the Zhao Tribe had a dark expression as he revealed a menacing killing intent.

His previous compromise had not been because he was afraid of Ling Han, but rather because he had not wanted to affect the planned attack against the Lang Tribe.

Was he seeking death?

“Take him down!” the Zhao Tribe chief commanded coldly, having finally lost all his patience.

“Sixth, let’s attack together!” An elder walked out. He was the seventh elder of the Zhao Tribe, and was brothers with the sixth elder. The two of them working together also had the best coordination.

“All right!” The sixth elder also walked out. The two of them stood side by side, staring at Ling Han with eyes filled with ice, their faces expressionless, as if Ling Han was already a dead man.

Ling Han smiled slightly, and used the Immovable Deity Metal Body Mystical Power. Six arms stretched out at the same time, grabbing the six hostages on the ground, wielding them like weapons. “Come on, then!”

This…!

‘You are too f****** shameless, actually using the hostages as weapons! Furthermore, it is already bad enough that you grab two of them, but you actually grabbed six of them. If it wasn’t because you only have six arms, would you also be grabbing that last hostage?’

This thought also streaked through Ling Han’s mind. He couldn’t help but think, since he could form four additional arms, then could he advance a step further, and have this number reach as many as six, eight, or even more?

He could give it a try. Perhaps he would have to spend endless time on it, but it was worth the attempt, wasn’t it?

The sixth elder and seventh elder did not move for fear of harming the hostages, and did not dare to make any moves at all. They only stood there, looking at Ling Han dumbly—they had never seen such a shameless person!

Ling Han said, “If we’re not fighting, then let’s discuss the ransom. If it’s too low, then don’t blame me for killing the hostages!”

All the elites of the Zhao Tribe looked livid, but even if it was easy for elites to appear here, there were still very few that had reached Nine Rings. They belonged to talent that could definitely not be allowed to be lost, because there were still other tribes further down the river course that were eyeing them hungrily. If their strength was the slightest bit weakened, they would launch an offensive against them without hesitation, and replace them.

Some had only been defeated, and retreated further down the river course, but there were some that had directly been wiped out, and disappeared in the pa.s.sage of history.

“100 top-grade G.o.dly medicines!” the Zhao Tribe chief said, and he threw a large pile of G.o.dly medicines with a wave of his right hand in front of him. Because there was an extremely large amount of them, one could visibly see the clear interweaving of divine light among them.

Yet Ling Han scoffed, and said, “Do you think I am a beggar? You just plan to dismiss me with such paltry things?”

These G.o.dly medicines were only Level 16 at most.

He suddenly moved, and tore off the arm of a hostage, which he tossed at the elites of the Zhao Tribe.