Hu Liena's hand was trembling.
The cheap ballpoint pen felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds in her hand.
"Three million Gold Soul Coins... plus an inventory list of all the rare metals in Gengxin City..."
She gritted her teeth and glared at the calm, unruffled young man before her. How was this a deal? It was plain daylight robbery—and the kind that forced you to smile while handing over the money.
"What's wrong, Your Highness? Think it's too expensive?"
Qin Feng blew on the freshly written IOU and said nonchalantly, "If you think it's too expensive, you don't have to buy it. But I should warn you, I've already scattered the seeds of those 'Guardian No. 1' plants all over this valley. Without my special inhibitor, they'll wither in three hours when their energy runs out. And then..."
He gestured to the army of mutated plants around them, which stood like an impenetrable wall.
"Your subordinates—and you—will probably end up as fertilizer for these plants."
It was an outright threat!
Hu Liena took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling sharply. She knew she had no choice. This fellow named Qin Feng simply didn't play by the rules. He didn't care about Spirit Hall's prestige or the threat of a Titled Douluo. The only things that seemed to matter to him were "profit" and "data."
"Scritch, scritch, scritch!"
Hu Liena quickly signed her name and pressed down a bright red thumbprint.
"Here!" She flung the IOU at Qin Feng, her eyes full of venom. "Qin Feng, you'd better pray that potion really works. Otherwise, you won't be able to withstand Spirit Hall's wrath!"
"Thank you for your business."
Qin Feng put away the IOU with a grin and flicked the paper, making it snap crisply.
"Brother Wolf, untie Her Highness. And give her a bottle of 'weed killer' while you're at it."
Grey Wolf trudged over reluctantly, grumbling as he undid the electromagnetic net. "So stingy. You make three million Gold Soul Coins and don't even share a bit with me. I want to buy a new sheep-catching spaceship..."
Now free, Hu Liena gave Qin Feng a long look, then glanced at Tang San, who was still staring blankly into space. She gave a cold snort and walked away, covered in humiliation and looking thoroughly disheveled.
She didn't want to spend another moment in this godforsaken place.
Everyone here was crazy!
After Spirit Hall's people left, only Qin Feng's group and Tang San, who was still questioning his whole existence, remained in the hollow.
Tang San clutched the broken piece of Ghost Vine in his hand, his knuckles white.
He had lost.
He had lost completely.
Whether it was martial strength, the theories he prided himself on, or even his choice of Soul Ring, everything seemed utterly feeble in the face of Qin Feng's so-called "science."
"Why..."
Tang San raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was so hoarse it sounded as if it had been scraped over sandpaper.
"How can you do all this? Without Soul Power, without a Martial Soul, just using those... bizarre tricks?"
"Bizarre tricks?"
Qin Feng put away the IOU, turned around, and looked down at Tang San. His gaze was like that of a god standing above the clouds, looking down on an ant struggling in the mud.
"Tang San, you're wrong."
"Your so-called Martial Souls and Soul Skills are nothing more than crude applications of energy. You know what happens, but not why."
"You kneel before gods and beg for power. I analyze the rules and take control of power."
Qin Feng pointed at his head.
"Before the truth, even gods are just slightly larger experimental specimens."
"You... blaspheme the gods!" Tang San roared. That was the line he would never cross, after living two lives.
"Blasphemy?" Qin Feng laughed, recklessly and without restraint. "If lifting the veil is blasphemy, then I'd rather call it—enlightenment."
He paid Tang San no further attention and turned toward the temporary workbench Grey Wolf was putting together.
There was no point explaining anything to someone like Tang San, a "chosen one" bound by traditional ideas. It was like playing music to a cow. Only by crushing his pride again and again with overwhelming strength could Qin Feng make him understand that times had changed.
"Brother Wolf, clear them out."
Qin Feng gave the order coolly.
"Sure thing!" Grey Wolf pulled a huge megaphone out of his pants and bellowed at Tang San, Xiao Chenyu, and the others: "Hey! You, the Blue Silver Grass loser, and you, the young master who wet himself—get lost! This great king is about to conduct a top-secret experiment! If you don't want to become lab rats, disappear!"
Tang San gritted his teeth and stared hard at Qin Feng's back.
It was a hatred that would stay with him for a lifetime, and a determination to surpass him.
"Qin Feng... One day, I'll use the Tang Sect Secret Arts to shatter your ridiculous 'science' with my own hands!"
Tang San swore to himself, then helped the still-dazed Yu Xiaogang stagger away from the hollow. Xiao Chenyu and the others scrambled after them, terrified they'd be caught and sliced up if they didn't move fast enough.
At last, the hollow fell quiet.
Only the rustling of the wind through the mutated foxtail grass remained.
Qin Feng stood in the middle of the open ground and took a deep breath. The air was filled with the smell of blood, chemicals, and... an approaching storm.
"System."
Qin Feng called out in his mind.
"Use the second 'Scientist of Ten Thousand Worlds' summoning privilege!"
[Ding! Command confirmed!] [Connecting to the scientific laws of the myriad worlds...] [Searching for a scientist compatible with the rules of the current plane...] [Search complete! Target locked!] [Keywords: biological modification, forbidden experiments, obsession with immortality, snake.]
As the system's prompt sounded, the space before Qin Feng suddenly began to twist.
It wasn't the sort of distortion caused by fluctuations in Soul Power. It felt as though space itself was being forced open by some viscous, icy substance.
A nauseating, fishy wind blew out of the rift without warning.
The temperature around them dropped by more than ten degrees in an instant.
Grey Wolf, who had been fiddling with the equipment, abruptly stopped. His gray fur stood on end, his tail tucked between his legs, and an uneasy growl rumbled in his throat.
"Woof! Something's wrong... Awooo! Qin Feng! This smell... There's something wrong with it!"
"It's even more dangerous than Red Wolf's Frying Pan!"
Even Xiao Wu, who had been sulking off to one side, suddenly raised her head. Her pink eyes were filled with unprecedented fear. As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, her instincts were sharper than anyone else's.
It was the presence of a natural enemy.
The cold-blooded, emotionless aura of a predator.
"Hiss—"
A faint sound of a snake's tongue flicking rang out, yet it seemed to burrow straight into their brains.
A pale, bloodless hand reached out from the rift in space.
Then came a tall, slender figure.
He wore a pale purple kimono, with a thick purple shimenawa tied around his waist. His long black hair fell down his back like a waterfall.
Most striking of all was his face.
As pale as paper, with purple eyeshadow at the corners of his eyes. His golden, vertically slit snake eyes glinted with a cold light, filled with curiosity and greed toward all things in the world.
The craziest scientist in the world of Naruto.
One of the Sannin.
Orochimaru!
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