Reaper of the Martial World

Book 8: Chapter 109: Nine (1)

Nine was stunned. She had entered this operation with absolute confidence. In fact, she even thought that hiding her identity from the beginning was overkill, which was likely why she blew her own cover so easily. But now, in a mission she led, five of their six members had already died and matters were looking bleak for herself.

The numbered warriors of BPA weren’t just run of the mill warriors. They were the face of the strongest power their organization possessed. After them, there was only their leader and their slumbering Ancestors. For all intents and purposes, they were the best BPA had to offer. Yet five of them had died, just like that.

Any organization would mourn the loss of even one higher dao formation expert. They represented the cumulative effort of several hundred thousand years. Yet they had lost five!

The more Nine thought about it, the more she trembled with rage. How did things come to this point?

‘If I’m being honest with you, I’m quite interested in having a Dream Panther on my side.’

The sudden voice caught Nine off guard. From the very beginning, Dyon hadn’t spoken to the numbered warriors even once. He wanted to give the illusion that they were fighting an enemy far more powerful than himself. Only by preying on this fear could he restrict their movements.

The truth of the matter is that if the numbered warriors went all out and attempted to charge to the surface of Dark Ocean, they would have succeeded. Dark Ocean isn’t like Earth’s waters, it’s only a few dozen thousand miles deep. Such a distance for a dao expert could be covered in a handful of minutes, even seconds if they went all out.

However, it was by preying on their fear of the unknown, plunging them into darkness, cutting off the information they had about the enemy, that Dyon was able to make them feel as though they were safer staying put rather than blindly charging.

But, Dyon felt it was a shame to simply kill a beast on the level of the Dream Panther so easily. After subjugating Thirteen, Dyon decided to gamble.

What he was severely lacking in now was absolute experts. In truth, he had the celestial beasts. However, Head Tudo, Tigris and Simia were only Middle Dao Experts. Though there was Granny Celest who had recently broken into the Peak Dao realm, she was the only one. Of course, there were also the Titled Spirits who were currently the reason Dyon didn’t have the Soul Tome on hand. But, all of these experts had one thing in common: they weren’t readily available.

The celestial beasts weren’t just dao experts, they were family heads. Their possible deaths held a fundamentally different kind of weight. In truth, Dyon, as the leader of the Mortal Alliance, shouldn’t so easily head to the battlefield either. His death quite literally meant the death of the Alliance.

Then there were the Titled Spirits. They needed much more time for their souls to become whole, and even more to properly construct their bodies and adjust. Then, after that was completed, they would need even more time to stabilize their cultivation.

Luckily, from Dyon’s estimates, they would only need a few years at most to return to their original strength, but that was still time nonetheless.

Dyon simply didn’t have enough backing. The only dao experts under his wing he could readily use were Zabia and the Ipsum disciples, but they were just fledgling dao experts. Dyon wasn’t even confident enough to start his assault on the 99 universes with just them.

Simply put, if he could bring Nine under his wing and snatch her from BPA, the benefits would be innumerous.

“Are you trying to recruit me?” Nine sneered. A rage bubbled in her heart.

However, Dyon didn’t deny it. ‘Of course I am.’

“You’ve yet to wipe your mother’s breast milk from you lips, yet you want to subdue me?”

‘You should think about it.’ Dyon said plainly. ‘You were the leader of an operation of six higher dao experts, yet you lost five of them? I don’t think even you would be spared from punishment, especially since that personality of yours is so abrasive.’

Nine flinched. Dyon was right, there were likely many eager to see her punished. They would definitely come down hard.

Still, her pride was too strong.

“Do you still not understand why BPA was created? It was precisely so that beasts would never be placed under the heel of humans again, yet you want me to throw all of that away to follow you?”

‘What?’ Dyon sneered. ‘Do you expect me to give you a speech about how I’m different from other humans? That I’ll treat you well? That you’ll be a treasured subordinate? Absolutely not.’

The coldness in Dyon’s voice caused Nine to flinch.

‘You and your allies attempted to crush the dreams of countless individuals I must answer to once I leave this place. If you come under me, you will be under me. I’ll work you to death until the point you pay back the damage you almost caused here.’

Nine was stunned before she began to laugh, maybe she would even wipe tears away had they not been in the depths of an ocean.

‘Is this how you recruit people? Why the hell would I join you under these conditions?’

‘Two reasons.’ Dyon replied. ‘First, if you don’t, this will be your final day with likely no one to remember your death date a year from now.’

Nine’s gaze darkened, but Dyon hadn’t finished.

‘And second. If you ever want to taste the power of a Higher Existence, the sort of power your Clansmen have never touched before, I am your only hope.’