A Lucky Find? A Mysterious Black Iron Scroll

The human mercenaries were all stunned upon hearing this, somewhat slow to react. For a moment, no one dared to speak up, and they all remained silent.

"Does no one know?" Wei Yang frowned at the sight.

"My lord..."

A female mercenary who seemed to be their leader gritted her teeth, raised her hand, and nervously stepped forward. Her voice trembled slightly as she said, "My lord, I know. We can take you to Shimo City."

Wei Yang's expression eased, and he nodded. "Then lead the way."

At the same time, he decided that once he reached Shimo City, he would immediately obtain a detailed map of the Tagor Desert.

"Yes." The leading female mercenary was overjoyed. She quickly turned around, preparing to call her companions and set off.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Snake People, the triangular-eyed snake man, grew anxious when he saw this.

Thinking of the mysterious item those damned human mercenaries had taken from the Underground Ancient City Ruins, he could not help but regret that, in his greed for merit, he had not sent anyone back to notify the commander. Instead, he had chosen to lead his men in pursuit himself.

There had been no problem at first. With their strength, they should have been more than capable of wiping out these human mercenaries. Yet now, an accident had occurred.

Though terrified, he still forced himself to speak. "My lord, these people stole a treasure from our race..."

Before he could finish—

"Bullshit!" The leading female mercenary spun around and glared at him furiously, cutting him off. The mercenaries under her command also looked indignant.

"My lord."

The female mercenary respectfully addressed Wei Yang. "That Black Iron Scroll was something our team found in an underground palace within the Underground Ancient City Ruins. They happened to see it and tried to take it from us, which is why they chased and hunted us all the way here."

The triangular-eyed snake man argued, "The Underground Ancient City Ruins have now been occupied by our Snake People Race. You secretly infiltrated it to steal and took our treasure."

"You shameless bastard!"

The leading female mercenary was so enraged that her ample chest rose and fell sharply, creating enticing curves. With one hand on her waist, she snapped, "Those Underground Ancient City Ruins surfaced decades ago and have long been explored by countless people. Everyone has always been free to explore them. Since when did they become the territory of your Snake People Race?"

"Our race only recently decided to occupy that place, so it is now our territory," the triangular-eyed snake man said.

"You..." The female mercenary trembled with rage and was about to continue.

"Enough." Wei Yang frowned and impatiently waved a hand, interrupting their quarrel.

The female mercenary immediately fell silent and respectfully lowered her head.

Wei Yang turned toward the Snake People. He raised his right hand, crimson Dou Qi appearing in his palm, then struck out with his palm.

At once.

A crimson energy lion king materialized out of thin air, lifelike in appearance. Its mane carried a faint golden sheen, and its entire body radiated an incomparably powerful, terrifying aura—majestic and domineering.

Whether human mercenaries or Snake People, everyone present was so intimidated by that aura that their bodies went limp, and they nearly dropped to their knees.

Roar~

The energy lion king charged swiftly toward the Snake People. Midway, it suddenly opened its jaws and let out a furious roar.

Buzz~

The human mercenaries' minds instantly went blank, their eardrums ringing so fiercely that they could hear nothing else.

As for the Snake People, they were directly swept by a ripple of sound waves. Their bodies exploded apart, flying through the air like a group of torn sacks.

Then the energy lion king came crashing down.

Boom!!!

The violent explosion kicked up sand and dust that filled the sky.

Wei Yang expressionlessly lowered his hand, pulled Ye Xian'er into his embrace, and formed a Dou Qi barrier around his body to keep the sand and dust outside.

Then he raised a hand and waved. A powerful gust swept through the area, quickly calming the dust-filled sky.

A huge pit had appeared where the Snake People had been standing. Heat rose from it in waves, and some of the sand had melted into crystalline matter.

As for the Snake People, not even their bones remained.

"Wasn't that easily settled? They insisted on courting death and making a racket that annoyed me," Wei Yang said softly.

The human mercenaries clutched their still-ringing ears, staring at the scene in utter terror. Their legs were weak and trembling.

Wei Yang beckoned toward the pit, and a dark silver Storage Ring flew out and landed in his hand.

His powerful Soul Power surged forth, forcefully breaking the remaining imprint inside the Storage Ring. His perception swept through the ring's internal space.

Soon, Wei Yang withdrew his Soul Power and curled his lip.

This was the triangular-eyed snake man's Storage Ring. It was the lowest-grade kind, with only about one square meter of space inside, and there was nothing valuable within it.

Wei Yang looked toward the leading female mercenary.

She stepped forward with her entire body trembling. "My lord... w-we'll take you to Shimo City right away..."

"Mm, then let's go." Wei Yang casually tossed the Storage Ring to her. "This is your payment."

"Thank you, my lord." The female mercenary's eyes lit up as she caught the Storage Ring, overjoyed.

It was a Storage Ring!

The other mercenaries looked on with both delight and envy.

Even the lowest-grade Storage Ring was worth tens of thousands of Gold Coins. If its internal space was even a little larger, the price would multiply accordingly.

Their entire fifteen-man team could not afford even the lowest-grade Storage Ring even if they pooled all their savings.

Once they returned and sold this Storage Ring, dividing the money would be enough for their entire team to eat without worry for three to five years.

They had never expected that this time, not only would their team escape disaster at the hands of the Snake People, but they would also gain such a windfall.

The leading female mercenary carefully put away the Storage Ring with a delighted expression, then hurriedly urged the others to get themselves ready to depart. She herself attentively came to Wei Yang's side to lead the way.

"My lord, Shimo City is still roughly a hundred li from here. At our pace, we should arrive around dusk," the female mercenary said.

"Mm." Wei Yang neither confirmed nor denied it. Holding Ye Xian'er's hand, he admired the desert scenery along the way.

There was not really much to see. As far as the eye could reach, there was only endless yellow sand, with the occasional small oasis dotting the sea of sand like an emerald.

After watching for a while, Wei Yang lost interest and withdrew his gaze.

Ye Xian'er, however, continued watching with some curiosity.

"My lord, my name is Aini," the leading female mercenary said cautiously.

"Oh." Wei Yang glanced at her and nodded blandly.

Aini?

Damn it!

Perhaps sensing Ye Xian'er's sidelong gaze, as well as the slight tightening of the jade-like hand in his palm, Wei Yang nearly wanted to split this Aini in half with a single palm strike.

Was she trying to start something?

The mercenary named Aini seemed to be thinking of something. Perhaps because Wei Yang had seemed quite amiable along the way, she had regained some courage. After pondering for a moment, she took a light breath and pulled a Black Iron Scroll from the leather pouch at her waist.

"My lord, this is what we found beneath an altar in a hidden underground palace within those ruined Underground Ancient City Ruins. We do not know exactly what it is. If you are interested, my lord, I am willing to offer it to you," Aini said, respectfully presenting the Black Iron Scroll with both hands.

"Oh?" Wei Yang casually swept his gaze over the Black Iron Scroll.

He had not cared much at first. From the conversation between them and the Snake People earlier, he knew that those so-called Underground Ancient City Ruins had surfaced decades ago and had long been explored by an unknown number of people. What good treasure could possibly remain for a mercenary team whose strongest members were merely Nine-star Dou Zhes to find?

How could there be so many lucky finds?

Yet when Wei Yang's gaze fell upon the Black Iron Scroll, his expression sharpened.

"Hmm?"

Wei Yang was somewhat surprised. He reached out, took the Black Iron Scroll, and examined it closely.

He had discovered that when the Soul Power he had casually swept over it earlier touched the Black Iron Scroll, it had actually vanished!

So he became a little more serious and once again sent his Soul Power into the Black Iron Scroll. Yet after his Soul Power entered it, it still vanished without explanation.

It disappeared without a trace.

The Black Iron Scroll was like a bottomless abyss, swallowing every bit of Soul Power he sent into it!

This!

Wei Yang's gaze grew solemn. He finally became truly serious and continued extending his Soul Power.

Immediately, surging Soul Power flowed through his palm and poured into the Black Iron Scroll.

Only after a while did he stop helplessly, somewhat exhausted.

Looking at the ancient, worn, and utterly unremarkable Black Iron Scroll in his hand, Wei Yang could not help drawing in a sharp breath. His heart was filled with surprise and excitement.

Had he really found a treasure by chance?!

Though he was currently only at the One-star Dou Ling Realm, in terms of Soul Strength alone, he was comparable to an ordinary Dou Emperor, perhaps even stronger.

Yet when such powerful Soul Power entered this Black Iron Scroll, it all vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea, disappearing without a trace!