Chapter 212: Secret Deals

After obtaining news about the treasure from Zong Ao, Ye Feng also considered using his domain power to buy the key. However, the Virtual Domain replied that his domain master privileges were insufficient to conduct such a search.
Although Ye Feng didn’t get the key, at least he learned from the Virtual Domain that the key to that palace wasn’t from the cultivation world. That palace surely couldn’t be something from that world either. Realizing that cheating wouldn’t work, Ye Feng spent these days searching for relevant information. Yet, he vaguely remembered having seen that triangular key with a hollow center somewhere before, but he couldn’t recall where.
One day, someone knocked on the door of Ye Feng’s apartment again.
When Ye Feng opened the door, his expression became strange. Standing at the door was a beautiful woman—more precisely, a graceful beauty who appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties, with a mature charm…
“Handsome guy… I never expected this to be your true face!” The woman placed her hand on Ye Feng’s chest and stepped inside gradually. “I really went through a lot of trouble to find you!”
“Su Rui, you’re no longer my opponent. You should be well aware of that.” Ye Feng knew he was definitely facing bad luck today.
“I originally thought you, being just at the Yuan Ying stage, were probably just the person who bought that set of armor. But after asking many people to investigate, I found out you’re the one who killed my husband. If you could defeat a Asura at the Tribulation stage, killing my husband with your Yuan Ying strength shouldn’t be difficult either!” Su Rui finally understood the truth. “And that little bird has gotten much stronger! It seems you really had some amazing experience in the Terror Forest! To make such great progress in such a short time!”
“Leave here, Su Rui,” Ye Feng shook his head. “I killed your husband because he attacked me. Besides, you’ve already killed me once—so it’s a form of revenge!”
“Haven’t you died yet?” Su Rui still wore a seemingly gentle smile.
“I was saved by someone. That counts as repaying my life! We’re even now—no one owes the other anything!” Ye Feng stepped back and said to Su Rui.

“No, you still owe me. I remember you owe me a set of top-quality spiritual weapon armor, and a husband too!” Su Rui stretched out her right index finger and gently traced it from top to bottom across Ye Feng’s chest, then raised her head, looking at him with a somewhat dazed gaze.

Ye Feng’s breathing became rapid, his face turning red as well. He stepped back two more times. “I can return the spiritual weapon armor to you, but a husband… I can’t give that to you!”

“But for me, a husband is far more important than spiritual weapon armor!” Su Rui shook her head.

“Then what exactly do you want?” Ye Feng was completely at a loss with this woman in front of him.

“I want you… to be my husband!” Su Rui tilted her head and looked at Ye Feng.

“You’d better find someone else for this!” Ye Feng refused outright. “I can’t spend my whole life with a woman I don’t even know at all.”

“Feelings can be developed slowly,” Su Rui stepped forward two more times and reached out to touch Ye Feng’s cheek. “It’s the first time I’ve met a man who’s even more handsome than my husband, and yet so powerful too. You know, you meet all the standards of the perfect man in my eyes…”

“Besides, there are plenty of men in the cultivation world who are more handsome than those pretty boys and equally strong!” Ye Feng didn’t think those pretty boy types could be considered handsome. “Besides, it’s not the face that makes a man successful.”

“That won’t do! My husband must be the most handsome man in the world! For me, looks are more important than anything else!” Su Rui shook her head in disagreement with Ye Feng’s opinion.

“Alright, lifetime member of the beauty club!” Ye Feng helplessly spread his hands. “Then what if you find a man even more handsome than your husband in the future? What will you do? Run away with him?”

“No, I won’t. I’ll kill him. Anything I can’t get doesn’t deserve to be owned by other women! By killing all the men who are more handsome than my husband, I’ll have the most handsome man in the world as my husband!” Su Rui was nothing but a fanatic.

“Oh, that’s not something a normal person would think of!” Ye Feng was speechless at this answer. “For someone I want to marry, first of all, they must be a woman, and secondly, a normal woman. Those are the two most important criteria, but you don’t meet the second one. So, I reject your request, and I make it clear that I will never agree to be your husband!”

“That’s your answer?” Su Rui’s expression darkened slightly.

“Stop bothering me! Although I don’t kill women, there’s always a first time for everything. I hope you won’t be the first person to force me to make an exception!” A fierce look flashed in Ye Feng’s eyes as well—this woman before him was nothing but a madwoman.
“I guarantee… you’ll regret making this decision today!” Su Rui shouted at Ye Feng. “I’ve said it before—whatever I can’t get, no one else can either. Just because I can’t kill you doesn’t mean others can’t! As long as someone can kill you for me, I’m willing to pay any price!”
After saying that, Su Rui suddenly turned around, and the pendant at the end of the necklace hanging around her neck came into view from beneath her clothes. Ye Feng was stunned—at the end of that silver necklace was the triangular, hollow pendant, which was actually a key to unlocking a treasure…
“Wait!” By the time Ye Feng regained his senses and tried to call out to Su Rui, she had already disappeared.
Ye Feng was well aware of Su Rui’s obsessive nature—she would rather destroy that key than hand it over to him.
After putting on the detector, Su Rui’s figure was no longer visible inside it. She must have already teleported somewhere else.
“Damn it! I didn’t remember that the pendant like a necklace was hanging around her neck the last time I saw her.” Ye Feng smacked his own head hard. “Otherwise, I could have tricked her into giving me the key earlier…”
…
A dark alley, a noisy nightclub…
“You want to kill Daofeng?” A fat man with a face full of flesh and greasy skin stared at the beautiful woman in black tight clothes before him. “You should know his strength is far from ordinary. Moreover, he’s accompanied by two terrifying spiritual beasts. What price can you offer?”
“What do you want?” Su Rui approached the fat man step by step, her face full of charm.
“You need to know that in the entire cultivation world, only a few people dare take on such a job! And I’m even risking my life as a top assassin to do this—it’s not something I can just do for free just because you’re pretty.” The fat man changed his tone. “His strength is equivalent to that of a second-or even third-stage Immortal.plus the two other spiritual beasts at his side, who are also at the second-stage Immortal level, it means only Immortals above the fifth stage can be sure to kill him.”
“There are less than ten assassins at this level in the entire cultivation world. As for the price… I don’t think you, a beautiful woman, can afford it!” The fat man brought his big face close to Su Rui’s and shook his head at her.

“What’s the price?” Su Rui still wasn’t convinced.
“The price for a Five Calamities Immortal starts at 10,000 top-grade spirit crystals. The exact amount depends on the task’s difficulty. But it won’t exceed 100,000 top-grade spirit crystals—that’s the price for a Six Calamities Immortal!” The fat man shook his head and laughed at Su Rui’s persistence.
Su Rui’s expression darkened immediately. 10,000 top-grade spirit crystals was equivalent to 100,000 mid-grade spirit crystals—a price she couldn’t afford. After all, there were less than 50 factions in the entire cultivation world that could earn over 10,000 top-grade spirit crystals in a year. That was the annual income of a large faction.
“Is there no other way?” Su Rui pretended to look pitiful. “No. Although payment can be split, half of the cost must be paid upfront. In my opinion, you can’t even scrape together one-tenth of that! So, it’s useless to argue!” The fat man completely ignored her pitiful act. “I wonder why you wanted to attack him? You know, that newly risen kid has caught the attention of many forces!”
“He killed my husband!”
“Tsk tsk, that’s not a good reason. I don’t think you’re the kind of woman who stays faithful! Besides, you have beauty and strength beyond ordinary women— isn’t it easy for you to find a man? My kids are all quite good. Of course, I’m great too… You know which aspect I mean…” The fat man winked at Su Rui.
Su Rui suppressed her anger. She hated ugly guys like this the most, and now this man was saying such things in front of her. She wanted to attack him, but she knew full well his strength was far beyond hers.
At that moment, the fat man’s gaze wandered shamelessly toward the dip in Su Rui’s chest. Once he fixed his eyes there, he couldn’t take his eyes off it. Surprised, he reached out…
“What do you want?” Su Rui didn’t expect him to reach out right away. Reflexively, she drew her dagger and stabbed at him.
“Beauty, that’s not a good habit.” The moment she stabbed, she felt a cold sensation on her neck. The fat man had already appeared behind her, and her dagger was now in his hands. “I’m not trying to do that to you. I’m a gentleman. I’d only do such things if a beauty invited me. I just wanted to take a look at your necklace earlier.”
Su Rui yanked off her necklace. “Let go of me!”

After the fat man released her, she threw the necklace at him.
“Do you want to kill Dao Feng?” The fat man picked up the necklace and examined the triangular pendant at its end carefully before looking up at Su Rui.
Su Rui nodded, a bit puzzled.
“Alright, since the necklace is mine, I’ll take on this deal!” The fat man wore a sly smile on his face…