[No Money? Then Sorry]

"Your skin really is stone, but your internal organs shouldn't be, right? You let me hit you with an axe. On the surface, your skin wasn't injured, but just now you reached up and touched your chest. What does that mean? You must have felt a faint pain in your chest, right? If you can feel pain, then you should be able to get dizzy too!" Yue Yang showed no fear. Instead, he laughed loudly.

He flashed aside from Rock's enormous fist and leaped into the air.

With an incredibly deft twist of his wrist, he turned the axe blade around. Gathering his innate true qi, he brought the thick back of the axe down hard on Rock's gleaming bald head.

At once, another tremendous clang of metal against stone rang out.

Rock's body swayed. He clutched his head with his thick hands, overcome with pain and nearly roaring aloud.

But before the sound could leave his throat, his eyes rolled back, and he crashed to the ground!

He might have endured a blow to the head from someone else, but against the innate true qi of an innate-level expert like Yue Yang, his stone skin was like a thin sheet of paper without any defense. The true qi penetrated straight into his brain.

Although his skull had not split open, the inside had suffered a severe concussion.

Having won his first battle, Yue Yang tossed aside the slightly warped steel axe and casually dusted off his hands, as though he had done something utterly insignificant. Yet if anyone had been watching, if they saw a beginner apprentice take down a high-level Rank Two warrior in one move—take down Rock, White Stone City's famously fierce fighter, in one move—their jaws would surely have hit the floor.

But in the eyes of an innate-level expert, an innate expert knocking out a Rank Two warrior was nothing surprising at all. It was easier than eating beans.

"Alright, let's see how much money the first monster I've beaten can drop!" Yue Yang's mindset was purely that of killing monsters for loot, not pursuing revenge.

When Rock felt a basin of cold water splashed over his face, he woke groggily and suddenly discovered that he had been tied up like a zongzi.

He tried to struggle.

But Rock immediately discovered that the binding was highly skillful—and utterly deadly.

His arms and legs had been bound tightly, with sticks wedged between them to hold them straight. His joints could not bend at all, and he could not exert the slightest bit of strength, much less break the ropes.

Yue Yang was counting all of Rock's possessions. Seeing that the fellow had awakened, he asked in great displeasure, "Poor bastard, other than the money on you, do you have any savings hidden somewhere worth more than a hundred gold? If you do, I can consider sparing your life..."

"I'll kill you!" Rock was so furious that his lungs nearly exploded, and he began cursing wildly.

"I understand how you feel, but people should face reality. Shall we discuss the ransom again? Do you really have no savings?" Yue Yang asked.

"Release me right now! Do you know who I am? I'm the Berserk Beast Mercenary Corps' top lieutenant! If you dare kill me, Captain Iron Frenzy will immediately hunt you down to avenge me. The Berserk Beast Mercenary Corps will wipe out your entire family!" Although Rock had been captured, his attitude remained as arrogant as ever.

"Hmm? Wipe out my entire family? I think I'm a little scared!" Yue Yang laughed when he heard that.

The Berserk Beast Mercenary Corps was one of White Stone City's three major mercenary corps. Yue Yang had naturally heard of it, and he also knew that its captain, Iron Frenzy, was one of the city's local tyrants.

But no matter how fierce Iron Frenzy was, that was only in the eyes of ordinary people.

Even if Iron Frenzy knew Yue Yang had killed Rock, he would not dare seek revenge against a disciple of the Yue Family, one of the Four Great Families.

That was the advantage of family power. Perhaps a family would not value every descendant or nurture every child. But if someone dared ignore the dignity of a great family and kill one of its members, even if the one killed was a worthless coward, the family would certainly mobilize its forces and send out elites to restore its honor, recover the face that had been smeared, and defend the family's prestige and glory through force.

Yue Yang had never intended to use the Yue Family's name to get things done. In his eyes, Rock was merely a tiny monster, no more than an ant.

Besides, if the Berserk Beast Mercenary Corps' top lieutenant was only this capable, then no matter how impressive they were, there was clearly a limit!

"Release me, or I'll tear you apart alive!" Rock felt utterly humiliated by Yue Yang's words. He had never felt so miserable in his life! He realized that, in the other man's eyes, he was not even a person—just a pitiful little bug.

"Looks like our conversation can end here. Since you have no money? Then sorry! Thorn Flower, this is your flower fertilizer. It's time to eat." Yue Yang ordered Thorn Flower to devour Rock, because consuming a living person provided more energy than consuming a corpse and gave it a greater chance of mutating. In particular, if it consumed a warrior who was still fused with his battle beast, then after mutating, Thorn Flower had a small chance of gaining some ability from the enemy's battle beast, or greatly strengthening some of its own abilities.

That was why Yue Yang had not killed Rock earlier. He had decided to let Thorn Flower swallow the fellow alive.

"Ah?" Rock looked up and saw Thorn Flower above him, its terrifying maw open wide, rows of sharp teeth exposed as it prepared to swallow him. He was instantly scared out of his wits!

Death was frightening, but if his head were chopped off in one clean stroke, it would be over.

This was not merely death. A Thorn Flower would open its mouth and swallow him alive, then slowly digest his body. That was simply too horrifying. Who knew how long he would be digested before he truly died?

Rather than suffer such living torment, he would rather die immediately!

Rock no longer cared about putting on a brave front and hurriedly begged for mercy in a mournful voice.

If the kid had wanted to kill him with an axe, he definitely would not have begged. The other party could not kill someone with stone skin like his using an axe anyway. But being swallowed alive was far too terrifying!

Yue Yang remained unmoved and waved a hand. "Sorry, but I charge money to kill people. If you don't have a hundred gold, don't bother opening your mouth."

Rock felt as if a bolt from a clear sky had exploded over his head. Where was he supposed to get a hundred gold?

If he had a hundred gold, why would he even be a mercenary? He could just go to the countryside, buy farmland and property, build himself an estate, collect female slaves, and become a wealthy country landlord. Seeing Thorn Flower open its huge mouth and prepare to swallow his legs, he cried out in panic, "Let me go, let me go! I'll get you a hundred gold! Tomorrow, once it's daylight, I'll definitely get you a hundred gold!"

"Lieutenant Rock, whose entire fortune doesn't even add up to ten gold, please don't lie so casually. It's wrong to deceive people!" Yue Yang had never fallen for such tricks, and he dismissed empty promises with utter contempt. Stroking Thorn Flower's blossom, he ordered, "You should start swallowing from his head. Otherwise, if this guy starts yelling, he might wake the neighbors. They still have work tomorrow! Come to think of it, I'm a little hungry too. Enjoy your meal slowly. I'm going to get a late-night snack..." Rock screamed desperately, squealing like a pig being slaughtered, but Yue Yang turned a deaf ear and swaggered away while whistling.

"Spare me, spare me!" Tears streamed down Rock's face.

"I believe that when you killed people, they must have begged you for mercy too. Did you spare them? No! You did very well. I should learn from you!" Yue Yang turned back with a harmless smile, looking utterly carefree.