Chapter 679: Either Trade, or Fight

The Central Medicine Garden has manifested.

Hazy, glowing medicinal auras were everywhere, surging up from the ground and coalescing into serpentine dragons of energy.

Some were dazzlingly colorful, some were fiercely volatile, and others were refreshingly serene…

Much like people, each of these glowing medicinal auras possessed its own unique properties.

No one knew how long the Central Medicine Garden had existed. It was only known that it predated the birth of the True Dragon Battlefield, having been a part of the world since long before its creation.

A Great Power had once speculated that the Central Medicine Garden was intricately linked to the Hundred Flowers Demon Queen.

The Hundred Flowers Demon Queen.

She was a formidable being capable of contending with a Venerable. The garden she left behind was said to contain unparalleled wealth and priceless Spirit Medicines.

However…

To this day, no one had ever managed to enter the innermost core of the Central Medicine Garden.

Even so, a single harvest from its outer regions was enough to yield immense benefits.

Someone had even obtained the root of a Ten Thousand Year Old Medicine. They took it back and planted it, and with just a little growth, it transformed into a Thousand-year-old Level medicine of incredible value.

Others had found a Divine Medicine Embryo here, which they treated as a Supreme Treasure to protect their clan.

These were all verifiable accounts!

Furthermore, rumors claimed that in the core of the Central Medicine Garden grew a Supreme Treasure Medicine over one hundred thousand years old.

Spirit Medicines of the Seventh Grade and higher were considered Divine Medicines, and most Divine Medicines were at least ten thousand years old.

Eighth Grade ones, meanwhile, took roughly fifty thousand years to mature.

As for those over one hundred thousand years old, they were collectively known as Supreme Treasure Medicines—wondrous items of the Ninth Grade. An ordinary expert might live their entire life without ever laying eyes on one; they were simply that rare. For this reason, neither the Eight Great Battle Clans nor the Four Great Divine Cities had ever given up searching for a way into the Central Medicine Garden’s core, but to this day, no one had succeeded.

Now, the Central Medicine Garden had finally reappeared, its power so great it could even shake the Rashomon.

It instantly captured everyone’s attention.

Hong Yu quickly retracted the Rashomon, his blood churning within him. His eyes burned with an intense fire. ‘So this is the Central Medicine Garden? The Ten Thousand Year-old Polygonum multiflorum is inside?’

‘Such a dense, glowing medicinal aura! It’s actually forming serpentine dragons of energy!’

Hong Yu licked his lips, his expression fervent.

‘Even though I can’t fully activate the Rashomon yet, it’s still an incredibly heavy and powerful object.’

‘Nearly immovable!’

‘But for this glowing medicinal aura to shake the Rashomon… I can only imagine what immense Treasure Medicines, perhaps even Ten Thousand Year Old Medicines, must be inside. This is an absolute treasure trove!’

While Hong Yu was momentarily distracted, King Lingxiao seized the opportunity to rescue the heavily injured Chen Tao.

Chen Tao swallowed a Spirit Medicine and began to silently heal his wounds, his venomous gaze never leaving Hong Yu. He looked as if he wanted to devour him whole.

Hong Yu noticed Chen Tao’s retreat but didn’t pursue him. In his mind, the Central Medicine Garden was far more important.

VMMMM!

An expert from the Kuafu Race took a step forward.

The commotion from the previous battle, though great, had not been enough to draw out the experts of the Kuafu Race. They only revealed themselves now that the Central Medicine Garden had appeared.

Hong Yu had seen this Kuafu expert before. His name was Kua Long. His massive eyes swept over the crowd as he announced coolly, “The Central Medicine Garden has appeared. All conflicts will cease for now. As per the rules, the outer region of the garden is divided into twelve sectors. For the first half-month, no one may cross into another’s territory to compete for Treasure Medicines. After that, my Kuafu Race will no longer restrict anyone!”

“We understand, of course!”

Everyone nodded.

Kua Long then began assigning sectors to the various factions.

The division of these sectors was based on the relative strength of each faction, a tradition that had been upheld for many years. The largest territories were assigned to the Kuafu Race and Xiakang Divine City.

After all, one was the strongest War Race on the True Dragon Battlefield, and the other was the faction that boasted the strongest individual Martial Force on the battlefield.

Naturally, no one objected to them receiving the largest sectors.

In fact…

This arrangement wasn’t really a problem for anyone else.

Hong Yu, however, was far from satisfied.

“Senior Kua Long, on what grounds is the Spirit Cat Race’s sector the smallest? The Celestial Horse Race ranks seventh among the Eight Great Battle Clans, yet our area is only half the size of theirs! Fine, I can let that slide. But why do the North and South Divine City, the Eastern Divine City, and the West Gate Divine City each get a sector three times larger than ours?”

Hong Yu glared at Kua Long.

Kua Long glanced at Hong Yu and said gruffly, “This was the result of a joint agreement between the major powers. The Spirit Cat Queen herself had no objections!”

Chen Tao sneered, his face cold. “A worthless race that relies on marrying off its Saintess to find patrons. If you ask me, even giving them an area this small is too big a waste!”

An expert from the Celestial Horse Race added nonchalantly, “Beichen, you should be content. If it weren’t for the fact that the Spirit Cat Race has supplied our great powers with so many beautiful maids over the years, you wouldn’t even be entitled to this little plot!”

Hong Yu was instantly enraged.

These bastards took turns, one after another, belittling the Spirit Cat Race.

They even bluntly stated that the Spirit Cat Race maintained its status by providing maids. It was a blatant, public humiliation.

‘If my relationship with the Spirit Cat Race were purely transactional, I wouldn’t be this furious,’ Hong Yu thought. ‘But I’m the man of the Spirit Cat Queen herself! If I don’t strike back hard when my woman is being bullied and insulted, can I even call myself a man?’

And so…

Hong Yu cracked a grin and looked at Kua Long. “Senior Kua Long, based on what everyone’s saying, am I to understand that the size of the allocated sectors is determined by the Martial Force of each race?”

“You could say that,”

Kua Long said, nodding after a moment’s thought.

Hong Yu took a deep breath. “That’s good. In that case, Senior Kua Long, I find this distribution to be very unfair. Some of these factions aren’t even as strong as the Spirit Cat Race, yet they’re allocated much larger sectors. I believe the Spirit Cat Race is more than strong enough to trade territories with them!”

“Huh?”

Kua Long froze.

Everyone’s eyes went wide. “…”

Everyone knew what the Spirit Cat Race’s combat power was like.

Although Mao Mei’Er possessed City Lord Level combat power, she was the only expert the Spirit Cat Race had to its name!

And this guy was actually claiming they were stronger than many of the other factions present?

Chen Tao sneered, “Such shameless boasting…”

Before he could finish, Hong Yu was already glaring at him. “You’re Chen Tao, right? From the North and South Divine City, correct?”

Chen Tao was taken aback. Though he didn’t know what Hong Yu was getting at, he still nodded and announced proudly, “I am Chen Tao, a Divine King of the North and South Divine City! My North and South Divine City has two City Lords…”

“Alright, alright, enough with the bragging!”

Hong Yu waved his hand dismissively, then looked at Chen Tao seriously and pointed to the still-burning encampment of the North and South Divine City in the distance. “Take a look. If the North and South Divine City is really as powerful as you claim, how could you let your own encampment be burned down with no one to stop it?”

“You…”

Chen Tao’s face darkened.

He desperately wanted to retort that Hong Yu had only succeeded in burning down the North and South Divine City’s encampment by launching a sneak attack while he was away attending a meeting of the Divine Kings from the Four Great Divine Cities.

But Hong Yu gave him no such opportunity, continuing to mock him. “I know a petty man like you would try to make excuses, probably claiming it’s all because you weren’t here. So let me ask you, didn’t you just hurry back? And didn’t you fight me when you returned? In the end, who won and who lost? If the Central Medicine Garden hadn’t appeared, I would’ve already slapped you to death!”

“And you still have the gall to clamor about being powerful? Have you no shame?”

Hong Yu picked his nose and stared at Chen Tao with contempt. “Now you have two paths before you. One is to trade the sector you were assigned with my Spirit Cat Race. Of course, you can also choose not to. But if you refuse, I’ll just have to take it by force!”

“Bastard, you’re going too far…”

Chen Tao flew into a rage, aggravating his injuries and causing him to spit out another mouthful of blood.

King Lingxiao’s brow furrowed deeply. He was about to intervene when he suddenly seemed to think of something. A playful and nonchalant look came over his face, and he held his tongue.

Chen Tao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The Snake King had not yet returned, and the First God King was in seclusion. Consequently, the North and South Divine City had not brought many experts this time. Most of them had been killed or injured in Hong Yu’s earlier sneak attack, and those who survived were largely crippled.

Clashing with the Spirit Cat Race now would clearly be unwise.

At this thought, Chen Tao looked to King Lingxiao. “Lingxiao, if you help me, I’ll give you half of my sector!”

King Lingxiao’s eyes lit up. This was exactly what he had been waiting to hear. He immediately nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll help you!”

With that, King Lingxiao stepped forward. “Half of the North and South Divine City’s sector is now mine, belonging to Xiakang Divine City. Beichen, if you think you have the strength to take on both of our Divine Cities at once, you’re welcome to try!”

With a proud and smug expression, he added coolly, “With my Xiakang Divine City providing support, I doubt anyone present would be foolish enough to help the Spirit Cat Race, would they?”

However…

The moment he finished speaking, Bear Tao walked over to Hong Yu’s side with a chuckle and slung an arm around his shoulders. “Brother, is someone bullying you? My Holy Bear Tribe has been so bored lately our balls ache. We haven’t even had a chance to fight. This time, we’ve decided to stand with you and find an excuse for a brawl to stretch our legs!”

Tiger Wei also walked over, his eyes narrowed. “My Holy Tiger Tribe hasn’t had a good workout in a long time either. Brother Beichen, as long as you promise to help me with some Pill Refining in return, I’ll help you too!”

“And I, Ape!”

Ape Feng strode over.

“Count me in!”

Tan Hui also stepped forward.

In an instant…

Four of the great War Races had gathered on Hong Yu’s side—and top-tier ones at that—their combined power handily suppressing the North and South Divine City and Xiakang Divine City.

King Lingxiao, who had been so supremely confident just moments before, now had a face as black as charcoal. He had just confidently declared that no one would dare to help Hong Yu, but now… This was truly a case of lifting a rock only to drop it on his own foot!

Hong Yu gave a wicked laugh, raising an eyebrow at Chen Tao and King Lingxiao. “Hurry up and make a decision. Are you trading or not? If you don’t, then I’ll just have to take it!”

Faced with the four great War Races cracking their knuckles in anticipation, and Hong Yu with his overwhelming momentum,

King Lingxiao’s gaze flickered, and he let out a low sigh. “Chen Tao, just agree to his terms.”

“…”

Flames of uncontrollable rage blazed in Chen Tao’s eyes, but he knew the situation was hopeless. He had no choice but to submit. With a cold, stiff face, he ground out through clenched teeth, “I… I… I’ll trade…”