Chapter 550 - Pretend You Can’t Win

A string of angry shouts reached Gu Han’s ears.

“Stop right there!”

“Hand over the goods!”

“Don’t waste time on him! Catch him! Kill him!”

In just a few breaths, seven or eight figures came from far, arriving beside him. Fleeing from them was a gloomy, middle-aged cultivator around the fifth or sixth stage of the Saint realm. Judging by his terrible expression and despairing gaze, he seemed to be injured. His pursuers were also Saint realm cultivators, with the highest among them at the seventh stage and the lowest at the second.

Even though this was Gu Han’s first time seeing such a pursuit, it didn’t surprise him. That was just how chaotic the Tiannan Realm was. Gu Han just ignored them. He couldn’t be bothered to get involved.

Just as he was about to move on, a streak of light flew straight toward him. The middle-aged cultivator’s voice reached him. “Brother, I’ve got the relic site token! Let’s split up and meet at the usual place!”

Without slowing down, he changed direction and fled into the distance. Gu Han caught the streak of light in his hand. It was merely an essence crystal. He was speechless because this scene felt familiar. Hadn’t he used this exact trick to set up Fatty back in the capital?

Chongming was taken aback. “Kid, looks like we’ve been played?”

Gu Han sneered inwardly. Are you kidding? Master Rooster, your brain can’t even compare to the pup, let alone mine!

Right then, the seven or eight figures cursed loudly. Nearly half of them landed right in front of Gu Han, surrounding him. The rest chased after the cultivator who’d fled. The method was old but it worked. They had no choice but to stop.

The leader, a seventh-stage Saint realm cultivator, stared coldly at Gu Han. “Kid, hand it over!”

Gu Han shook the essence crystal. “This? You want it?”

The cultivator knew he’d been fooled and cursed furiously, “Son of a bitch! I knew that bastard was no good. When I catch him, I’ll tear him apart!”

Then, he pointed at Gu Han. “Kill him. Keep chasing!

Gu Han raised an eyebrow. “You know it was a setup, but you still want to kill me? Isn’t that going a bit far?”

The cultivator sneered. “Are you playing dumb with me? You’ve already heard about the relic site token. You think I’d let you live?”

Gu Han was genuinely curious. “May I ask what exactly this relic site token is? Is it important?”

The cultivator seemed pressed for time and didn’t want to waste another word with Gu Han. Saint might surged from him as he struck out with a palm. “You’re asking a lot for a dead man!”

Just then, a shadow flashed out from behind Gu Han, sweeping across the man’s neck. The cultivator felt his vision spin violently, then everything went dark as his consciousness was extinguished. His headless body dropped straight down.

“Who was that?!”

“Who struck?!”

“Was it that rooster?!”

The remaining few panicked, crying out in alarm. Then, they spotted the shadow, so faint that it was almost impossible to detect. A few more soft sounds echoed, and the others followed suit.

So it wasn’t the rooster that had struck...

That was the last thought in their minds.

Having done the deed, the shadow faded back behind Gu Han, disappearing without a trace.

Gu Han collected the storage rings from the bodies and instructed, “Ah Gou, remember this. After you’ve finished them off, don’t forget to scavenge.”

Although Ah Gou spoke more fluently now, his understanding was still a blank slate, so he asked curiously, “Master, what is scavenging?”

Given Ah Gou’s comprehension level, Gu Han kept it simple. “It’s easy. They have money. We are poor. They’re dead. We pick up their things. That’s scavenging. Remember... you have to wait until they’re dead. That’s the basic code of a scavenger.”

“What if they’re not dead yet?”

“Then kill them first.” Feeling that explanation wasn’t quite right, Gu Han added, “Of course, you can’t just kill everyone you see because that’s wrong. People like these, who are hostile toward us and want to kill us, those we can take out. That’s called fishing scavenging.”

To help Gu Han, Ah Gou did his best to learn and eagerly absorbed new knowledge. “Master, what’s fishing scavenging?”

Gu Han didn’t even think. “Even simpler! Just pretend you can’t win.”

Chongming was baffled. Oh no... He’s going to lead my pup astray!

After passing on his unique skills to Ah Gou, Gu Han’s mind returned to what the cultivator had said earlier. “Relic site token?”

This relic site token was clearly something of great significance. Suddenly, he recalled the token he’d found in Changmei’s storage ring. Could there be a connection between the two?

With that thought, he gazed into the distance. “Ah Gou, you can find that man from earlier, right?”

“Yes.”

Gu Han smiled. “Let’s meet him at the usual place!”

***

Inside a hidden cave, the middle-aged cultivator tightly concealed his aura, not even daring to breathe loudly. Although none of his pursuers were as strong as he was, he’d only narrowly escaped after going all out.

Thinking about the token in his storage ring, he grew excited again. “Jackpot! I absolutely struck it rich! The Dao has favored me! The Tiannan Realm is huge, yet one token found its way to me. As long as I completely shake off my pursuers and sneak to Lingyun City, I’ll make a huge fortune by selling this token to the Lingyun Merchant Association!”

Just as he was getting worked up, Gu Han and Chongming landed in front of him. “Brother, what’s got you smiling so happily?”

His eyes went wide as he pointed at Gu Han, trembling. “You... you... How did you...?”

Gu Han grinned. “Didn’t you say so? Meet at the usual place. So here I am.”

The man appeared terrified. Setting aside how Gu Han had found him, the fact that he’d shaken off those pursuers meant Gu Han was stronger than all of them combined. It was far beyond what he could handle now.

He surrendered on the spot. “I was wrong! I shouldn’t have set you up, but I-I had no choice—”

Gu Han got straight to the point. “Spare me the excuses. Let me see the token.”

After a moment’s hesitation, between survival and money, the cultivator decisively chose survival and produced the token. Gu Han also pulled out the token he’d gotten from Changmei. It’s identical!

The cultivator’s eyes went wide again. “H-how do you have one too?!”

Gu Han mused. “What exactly are these things?”

“You don’t know?”

“I’m just a scavenger, so I don’t know much.”

The cultivator didn’t believe him for a second. Even the lowest-level cultivator in the Tiannan Realm knew quite a bit about these tokens and the relic site. How could he not know?

Unable to figure out Gu Han’s intentions, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and explain, “In the Tiannan Realm, there’s a Kunling Relic Site. There are many treasures inside...”

The thought flashed through Gu Han’s mind instinctively. Fishing! Once bitten, twice shy.