Extortion

"These suits of armor were all carefully forged by us dwarves. Not only are they sturdy and light, they can also resist low-level magical attacks. And those weapons were tempered a thousand times over, incomparably sharp. In human cities, each one would sell for hundreds of gold coins." The big-bearded dwarf introduced them enthusiastically, though his heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife.

"These are the savings our branch of dwarves has built up over hundreds of years. Thor above, why did you bring these devils to us?" the big-bearded dwarf wailed inwardly.

"Bullshit." Li Junshan circled the small mountain of armor a few times and said, "There's so much. How am I supposed to take it all with me?"

"You don't have a spatial ring?" The big-bearded dwarf could hardly believe it. This young summoner had so many abnormal summoned beasts and would be a powerhouse anywhere he went. How could he not even have a spatial ring?

"You have one?" Li Junshan shot to the big-bearded dwarf's side with a whoosh, stared at him, and said, "You'd better not lie to me."

The big-bearded dwarf wanted nothing more than to slap himself twice. He dawdled and said nothing, but then he suddenly felt some kind of sharp spike press against the back of his head. His soul nearly left his body. He quickly took off a black ring tied around his neck with a cord and handed it to Li Junshan.

Li Junshan took it and looked. He had no idea what material the ring was made of. It was pitch-black, with strange runic patterns carved on the face, and looked completely unremarkable.

"You're not fooling me, are you? This thing is a spatial ring? It doesn't look special at all."

"How would I dare deceive you, esteemed Summoner? This was made from top-grade Seven-Degree Gold. You only need to drip blood on it to acknowledge you as its master again, then rub the ring face with your finger, and you'll be able to use it." The big-bearded dwarf spoke in a low voice, his face ashen.

Li Junshan suddenly thought of a very important problem. His blood was highly corrosive; it could even melt steel with ease. He had no idea what would happen to this ring.

The allure of the spatial ring was too great. Li Junshan still could not resist stretching out a finger and lightly slicing a small cut on a sharp sword beside him. When blood seeped out, he hurriedly dripped it onto the ring face in his hand.

A miracle occurred. The ring face was like a parched desert, instantly absorbing that drop of blood. Li Junshan hurriedly rubbed the ring face with his finger, and suddenly, he sensed an empty space appear inside the ring, roughly three to four hundred cubic meters in size.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the spatial ring. No one noticed that on the blade Li Junshan had used to cut his finger, a tiny thread of blood had corroded out a bean-sized notch.

Only then did Li Junshan understand why the big-bearded dwarf had been unwilling to hand over this spatial ring, and why his face had gone ashen. Inside the spatial ring, a pile of objects flashing with golden light was neatly stacked. They seemed like iron yet not iron, but were even more dazzling than gold.

"Esteemed Lord Summoner, that... Refined Iron Core... could you... give it back..." The big-bearded dwarf plucked up his courage and mumbled.

"What Refined Iron Core?" Li Junshan played dumb and shook his head. "I didn't see any."

Ignoring the big-bearded dwarf, who was on the verge of tears, Li Junshan followed Fate's instructions and waved the ring face toward the pile of armor. The mountain-like heap of armor instantly vanished from before their eyes. He repeated the trick and also stored away the pile of weapons.

All of a sudden, a clear cry rang through heaven and earth. Even though they were inside the cave, they heard it distinctly. Before they could react, another low beast roar sounded, deep, distant, and lingering without end.

"Let's go." Li Junshan guessed it was the cry of the Golden-Eyed Magic Eagle or the Black Dragon. He had no time to waste here and hurriedly summoned the Xenomorphs. The group mounted them separately and rushed out of the cave.

The big-bearded dwarf looked at the empty cave and finally could not hold back anymore. He burst into loud sobs.

"What is Refined Iron Core?" Li Junshan probed the strange pile of metal inside the spatial ring with his consciousness and shouted to Fate on his back.

Fate shook his head. The Xenomorph was too fast, and the gale struck him head-on. He could barely open his mouth.

"I heard my father talk about it." Sally followed close on Li Junshan's right. She already possessed the strength of an intermediate warrior, and with battle aura circulating through her whole body, she was naturally not as miserable as Fate.

"Another name for Refined Iron Core is Iron Mother. It's the essence at the very core of refined iron. Weapons or armor forged with it are not only incomparably hard, but also as light as feather clothing. Those aren't even its greatest advantages. When warriors wear armor made from Iron Mother or use weapons made from it, it can increase the power of their battle aura. If the armor is further treated by an alchemist, it can also offset a certain amount of damage from intermediate magical attacks."

"It's that amazing!" Li Junshan instantly understood the value of refined iron.

"Yes." Sally continued, "One jin of refined iron is worth more than ten thousand gold coins, and it's extremely scarce."

"Sally, you know so much." Li Junshan had his Xenomorph move closer and said shamelessly, "Once this matter is over and we go back, you can pick whatever armor and weapons you like. If you aren't satisfied, there's still a huge pile of Iron Mother. Take as much as you want and forge it yourself. If there's too much, you don't need to return it. If there's too little, I'll make up the difference."

Sally's face flushed slightly, but she could not resist the temptation of Iron Mother either. She nodded and said quietly, "Thank you."

"Xiaoshan, me, me too!" Xilu grew anxious and shouted, "I took a liking to a big axe just now. It's much prettier than this one of mine."

"Haha, you'll get it. What's the hurry?" Li Junshan laughed loudly, then suddenly felt something was off. He subconsciously looked up, and his face changed drastically. He hurriedly commanded all the Xenomorphs to hide among the giant boulders of the nearby mountain range.

In the southern sky, a person swept over through midair. His speed was actually no slower than that Golden-Eyed Magic Eagle from earlier. Yellow battle aura shone like a dazzling sun, cutting an afterimage beneath the blue dome of the sky.

Perhaps sensing the presence of Li Junshan and the others, that person paused slightly above them, but then, as if in a hurry to get somewhere, instantly accelerated and flew into the mountain range.

"A battle saint." This time, without anyone else needing to say it, Li Junshan cried out involuntarily.

"I think we'd better not go." Fate felt his throat go dry and said hoarsely, "Our speed is definitely faster than Uncle Hark and the others. We just need to wait for them at the edge of the mountain range."

"I agree." Sally nodded and said, "The one who passed by earlier must have been a powerful mage, and now there's another battle saint. If powerhouses like that start fighting, even the aftershocks could severely injure us. I think we should stop thinking about that Black Dragon."

Li Junshan's face reddened. He had not expected Sally to see through his thoughts. He lowered his head and thought for a while, but in the end, he still could not resist the temptation of the Black Dragon egg. He raised his head and said, "Let's go to the mountain range and take a look first. If it won't work, you can stay outside while I take a few summoned beasts in. If there's danger, I'll run back. You all saw its speed too. At full speed, my summoned beasts may not lose to them."

Sally and Fate exchanged a glance. Knowing they could not persuade Li Junshan, they could only nod helplessly. The Xenomorphs carried them swiftly toward the mountain range to the west.

After roughly ten more minutes, Li Junshan and the others arrived below that mountain range. Afraid that the Black Dragon and the Black Dragon egg would be snatched first by those two people, Li Junshan had Fate, Sally, and Xilu wait at the mountain pass for the dragon-slaying team from Windfire Town, then left two Xenomorphs hidden nearby to protect them.

"Everything that happened today, including the dwarves and my summoned beasts, must not be told to anyone," Li Junshan solemnly instructed Sally and Xilu.

Sally nodded. She was intelligent and could also guess Li Junshan's thoughts. She said, "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. If my father and the others ask, I'll say a kindhearted mage met us when we were lost on the road, then brought us here. He told us to guard this place, and if anyone came, to tell them not to disturb the battle between him and the Black Dragon."

"Beautiful." Li Junshan snapped his fingers and said sincerely, "Absolutely beautiful."

Sally's face reddened again, and she lowered her head to fiddle with the corner of her clothes.

"Xiaoshan, don't worry. I've always listened to you." Xilu shouted, "Let me go in with you. I've never seen a dragon before."

"You can't go." Li Junshan shook his head, stood on tiptoe, and gave Xilu a hard pat on the shoulder. "You have to stay here and protect Sally and Fate. Hear me?"

Xilu immediately thumped his chest loudly and grinned. "Xiaoshan, just relax. You said Sally would become your wife in the future. We're brothers, so I'll definitely take good care of my future sister-in-law."

The blush on Sally's face instantly spread down to her delicate neck. She raised her head and glared fiercely at Li Junshan, then turned to look into the distance, able only to pretend she had heard nothing.

"Good brother." Li Junshan's skin was thicker than a city wall. He burst into laughter, turned, and urged the Xenomorph to run into the mountains.

"Master, be careful!" Fate stretched his neck and shouted.

"Master?" Sally glanced at Fate suspiciously. He immediately struck the same pose she had just used and acted as if he had heard nothing.

The mountains in the desert were different from the Falling Moon Mountains south of Windfire Town. Most of them were covered in low shrubs and woods, and the magical beasts inside were mostly low-level wind- or earth-type creatures. Li Junshan was thinking about Black Dragon and those two powerful figures, and had no time to bother with these low-level magical beasts. Riding the Xenomorph, he shot toward the middle of the mountains like a gust of wind.

After circling around a large mountain, he suddenly heard a strange sound coming from up ahead. Li Junshan had the Xenomorph lower its body and quietly moved over.

Behind the mountain was a clearing. At that moment, it was packed with people: more than a hundred giants around three meters tall, each carrying either a stone pillar or a thick tree trunk. Their rock-like skin was knotted with muscles as thick as tree roots, but their heads were extremely small, like a watermelon set on top of a huge vat.

In front of them, no fewer than three hundred dwarves were crammed together in a dense mass. The dwarves carrying iron hammers were not tall, but they were all in the prime of life, with powerful muscles on the limbs exposed outside their armor.

At that moment, the hundred-plus giants and three hundred-plus dwarf warriors were pressed tightly together in a huddle, all with frightened expressions. Most of them did not even dare raise their heads.

No wonder those dwarves only had twenty-odd warriors, while the rest were all old, weak, women, and children, and couldn't put up any fight at all. So the main force was here.

Li Junshan thought this to himself, then looked farther away, and his heart began pounding hard.

At the far end of the clearing was a tall cave. At that moment, a magical beast about a hundred meters long was crouched in front of the entrance. Its powerful body was almost completely covered in hard, glossy black scales. It had four thick, powerful legs, a pair of bat-like giant wings growing from its sides, a long neck, two sharp horns on its head, and its enormous eyes radiated a tangible, icy chill.