Chapter 1137: Plying To My Tune

Sanguis paused, his thoughts going to the plan his master and friends had devised to save their world, and he mused.

’If he does know where one of the beings is, this would make the entire plan easier for them. I can tell he isn’t lying. Let’s see what he has to say.’

"Speak. Where is the Western Celestial Tiger?"

Seeing he had at least caught his attention, Luò Rì Gōng sighed in relief.

"I won’t tell you unless you guarantee my continuance. I’ve been betrayed by gods before; I trust no one," the archer said, a bit of his arrogance coming back.

Whatever small breath he had bought himself, he would play to its maximum.

"If you can’t guarantee my survival, I won’t tell you a damned thing."

Sanguis frowned at the blackmail the ethereal being was attempting with him.

Appearing out of thin air before the archer, Sanguis grabbed him by the throat again.

"I don’t see any reason to entertain you any longer. I can dig the information out of your soul if I so wish. Your arrogance will have been your downfall to the very end."

The archer’s eyes quickly became round again, as panic set in once more.

"Wait! WAIT!" he cried out, barely enough air coming through his windpipe to utter a sound.

"I’ll tell you! Please, I beg of you. Just let me live. I’ll swear allegiance to you. Became your slave if that is what it takes! Don’t let my millennia-long life end after most of it spent in a cell! It’s too cruel!" he uttered, taking every ounce of air he had to plead his case.

Sanguis grew tired of his attitude changing like a metronome, and was about to end it when a wave of anger crashed onto him.

He felt his master’s thoughts through it, and let him take control.

Alexander may have been unconscious, but that didn’t mean his mind was shut down. He could still tell everything that was happening, especially inside the soul space that he shared with all his spirits, Sanguis included.

As he took control of the Nephilim’s body, Alex looked at the being hanging from his hand and grinned.

"I heard you wanted to make a deal. I’m listening," he said, a cocky smile on his face.

The expression was weird on the half-burnt face of the nephilim, but he hardly cared.

On the other hand, Luò Rì Gōng understood he was talking to a different being now. It was weird to him that more than one mind shared the same body with each other’s consent, but not totally unheard of, even in the era he was from.

"I beg of you, sir," he started, biting the inside of his cheek to keep his temper at bay. "I just want to live free once more. But I would settle for simply being alive, even if it bound to another. You have no idea what it feels like to be locked away for thousands of years."

Alex chuckled at his statement. He wasn’t entirely wrong, but not entirely right either.

Through Sanguis’ original soul fragment, Anima Geminae, he had felt a few of the Psyche memories, and her solitude had been one of the most powerful ones that slipped through the soul fragment.

So he had an inkling of knowledge on the matter. But the archer didn’t need to know that.

"I don’t have all day. My nephilim friend is peeking at the edge of my mind, awaiting to cast judgment on you. Give me one reason to hold him back. And make it a convincing one. The location of the Western Celestial Tiger is just an appetizer."

Luò Rì Gōng felt his anger rise for a moment, as he knew he was being black-mailed in turn. But he swallowed his pride.

His will to live far outweighed his sense of pride and feeling of anger toward the being before him.

"I can tell you the location of the Western Celestial Tiger and offer my power up to your cause. I’ll vow a slave contract to you if need be, to ensure my allegiance; I just want to live once more. See the world. It’s been literal ages."

Alex could tell he was being honest, if only in his unabated will to live. He wasn’t so sure about his intentions, but enough power or the right incentive could always rein that in.

"I have no use for your power. I have a friend, on the other hand, who could use a new bow. Is yours even worth her time?" Alex mocked, trying to rile him into divulging a bit of his powers.

Luò Rì Gōng grit his teeth, a bit of blood leaking at the corner of lips from biting the inside of his cheek so hard.

"Surely you jest, young lord. I am the most powerful archer in existence; my power is strong enough to threaten the gods in acting against me. My bow can cast night unto the sun itself, as it has nine times before. I can shoot so far that the human eye can no longer see my arrows. What more could one want from a bow?" he flaunted.

Alex grinned at his response.

"Now that sounds interesting. Anything else you can do? Aside from tooting your own horn, I mean."

The archer huffed in response to his comment.

"I am more powerful at the edge of dawn and dusk, when the moon and the sun coexist in the sky. At that moment, I can fire my arrows into the firmament itself, and shoot down stars from the sky. My light-swallowing arrows can extinguish the flames of even a mighty dragon. Is that not enough?"

Alex decided he had played the man’s fiddle long enough.

"Fine. I’ll take you up on your offer. Alas, there shall be no slave contract. I have a better idea for your compliance.

"Something more along my own means, and that will satisfy my nephilim friend, who I can already tell is disappointed that he won’t be able to judge you. Unfortunately for you, it will hurt like a bitch," Alex said, grinning like a madman.

"Whatever do you — ARGH!!!!"