Chapter 57: Trading Pill

And the sight that met him was so incredibly bizarre that he didn’t even know what his next move should be.

There was a muscular young man inside a golden cage, reaching through the gaps to clutch a massive metallic arm that was half the length of his own body, clinging to it like a koala.

And the arm he was clinging to belonged to a pitch-black statue that was currently yanking back, trying desperately to shake the human koala off.

From Moon’s angle, it looked more like Axe was climbing the bars of the big cage, holding onto a thick metal bar outside.

His hands were gripping the statue’s joint, his nails piercing a joint pin as he tried to screw it out.

The thudding sounds they had heard previously were the sounds of Axe’s body being slammed against the cage bars by the statue’s tugging.

The communication stone had rolled away somewhere on the floor, currently transmitting all these sounds without any filter—it had probably malfunctioned.

Moon stood up and dusted his clothes. His light body and movement techniques made his fall entirely painless. But Nox was not in such a good condition.

To Moon’s inner rage, he had forgotten to cover Nox in his spiritual Qi shield properly.

Nox cursed as he scrambled up, "Fuck!"

When he saw Axe, he let out another, "Fuck!"

And when his eyes fell on the surrounding rock walls, he gritted his teeth and said softly, one more time, "Fuck!"

The movement on Axe’s side paused upon their arrival.

Axe also cursed, seeing Moon standing not far away. "Fuck!"

A thin, agitated voice came from further toward the center, "Fuck later! First, deal with that statue."

Moon’s gaze searched around to find the source of the voice and saw Oshan Dew lying inside his own cage, apparently very weak. Moon furrowed his brows. That weakness and that aura looked familiar.

Black Sea poison!

That man was almost entirely crushed by Black Sea poison. Moon felt ecstatic; he might have just found his very first customer to clear out his inventory.

He looked at the statue, who was actually looking right back at him. Moon felt no killing intent or malice radiating from it, so he relaxed a little bit.

He turned to look at Axe. "Is that man your enemy or friend?" Moon pointed at Oshan Dew.

Axe’s gaze fell sharply onto Oshan. Damn, why is his mate’s first word about another man?! He was burning with jealousy.

"That old buzzard is definitely our enemy," Axe grumbled, still hanging onto the metallic arm.

"Let go of my arm," a deep metallic voice rumbled.

"That means he’s not very much of an enemy. No blood feud," Moon concluded.

Nox nodded beside him.

Just by the nickname Axe used, Nox knew Axe quite liked this man. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered to bicker.

Moon threw a vial precisely toward the man inside the cage. The vial made a perfect round arc through the air before stopping right in front of the man’s nose.

But as soon as Oshan reached out to grab it, the vial floated high out of his reach.

"Not so fast, mate. An exchange first. One hundred sikimon, or any kind of treasure, in exchange for a pill."

Hearing this, Nox almost rolled his eyes so far back he thought he would lose consciousness.

One hundred siki? Just one hundred siki?!

One hundred siki was a lot for commoners, but it was absolutely not a price a pill refined with legendary Stardust Lily deserved! If not ten thousand, at least demand one thousand, man!

Nox cursed inwardly, but he couldn’t say out loud that they had found a whole bunch of Stardust Cinder Lilies.

He coughed slightly to save the situation and added, "It’s a friendly price, so you can help us later if needed. I guarantee this price is not even close to one-tenth of its original value."

Moon realized he might have miscalculated the value of siki.

He didn’t really know how much a single siki was worth here. In his original world, the standard currencies were spirit stones, gold, or silver.

"Ahem! Yes, he is right," Moon added smoothly. He immediately decided in his mind that next time, he would make Nox his manager.

Oshan threw the pouch the Luna had given him without even bothering to count it.

"Here, take it all! Just keep me alive, and I will pay you back." He paused, then added firmly, "A hunter never lies or breaks his word to his fellow traveler. This is our Hunters Clan promise and curse."

Moon was surprised.

He did not know if this man was just bluffing, or if it was something similar to a cultivator’s oath from his own world—which, once taken, could not be broken without facing severe backlash.

Nox nodded toward Moon, indicating that the hunter was telling the truth.

Moon released his spiritual control over the vial.

As it fell, Oshan didn’t wait. He didn’t suspect any trap either; he had been tracking them recently, so he knew Moon possessed miraculous elixirs.

But the moment he swallowed the pill, his body went momentarily rigid.

This was actually not an elixir like he thought.

It was a pill.

A real, legendary pill!

And it was instantly eradicating his inner poison.

The soft, warm essence melted down his throat, and the route it traveled felt like a drought-ridden land that had finally touched sweet water.

Oshan lay there motionless, entirely speechless.

His eyelashes flickered with newfound greed, but not malice.

He needed this man.

He needed Moon’s help so badly.

’Alisa, forgive me this once for being selfish,’ he muttered in his mind.

While everyone’s attention had been drawn to the pill, the statue sharply yanked its hand back. Still, a loose pin rolled right out of its joint, and Axe fell onto the cage floor with a heavy thud.

"Little friend, aren’t you being a bit neglectful of the house owner?" the metallic voice vibrated throughout the chamber, demanding attention.

The statue slowly lifted its heavy leg and turned toward Moon. It leaned its massive frame down to stare directly into Moon’s eyes.

Moon didn’t step back.

He felt something oddly familiar about this entity. After a long while, his eyes widened in shock. "No way!" he whispered.

"There is always a way," the statue answered, sounding amused.

"How? How could you possess an immortal aura?"

"Why not? You little one possess a cultivator’s aura, so why can’t I?"

"But... but... this place isn’t even the Heavenly Sequoia Realm."

"Heavenly Sequoia Realm? Where is that?" The statue rubbed its hard metallic chin as if thinking deeply.

Moon realized he might have said too much, as everyone else in the room was now staring at him intently. "Errm... forget it. It’s just a random place."

"Hmm... interesting! Another realm? So, what is this realm then?"

The statue didn’t wait for an answer.

It straightened back up and returned to its original position, standing exactly as Axe had first seen it.

"Nothing matters anymore. Let us begin your trial. Win this battle and take this place for yourself. As for who among you inherits it, that depends entirely on your own fate and destiny."

The moment its words fell, the two golden cages vanished into thin air.

Suddenly, the entire platform rolled and vibrated violently.

Twelve massive Nightshade Gold pillars cracked out of the floor and shot straight up to reach the roof.

The blasted ceiling instantly turned into a solid, pitch-black wall that looked exactly like a dark night sky.

And from the trembling ironstone floor, endless waves of puppets sprang out.