The Almighty Ring

“The same as last time. I need your help in gathering the other Level 5 grand masters,” said Jiang Fei after a short silence.

“Hmm? What are you up to now?” Bai Shien frowned. Jiang Fei might be a treasure cove but during the most recent attack on the machines, the grand masters had learned that they weren’t all that powerful.

During the previous venture, the grand masters had all assumed that they were merely helping Jiang Fei in his training, to supervise him in actions. After all, there were so many Level 5 grand masters then. With such a powerful squad, who would dare to stop them. Who could stop them?

However, after the war, humility hit them hard at a deeper level. The Unknowns had possessed technology so advanced that they could hardly bring themselves to fight at their best. To make things worse, the enemy were only at Level 4 and Level 3.

Even though these grand masters were not hurt or injured, the thought of being disarmed by a bunch of lowly Mutants with mysterious machines was hurtful, not physically but mentally. Most of them had had to activate their domain ability and had spent so much energy that they had yet to fully recover since the event.

They might be all-powerful, all-mighty, and all-destructive, but these folks were still human in the end. After spending so much power, they would need an equally long time to recover. Not everyone had an Energy Core fused in their body like Jiang Fei and Isabella. For others, the domain ability would be the last skill they would use, only during critical moments like imminent death.

“I have a plan to attack two of the Unknowns’ bases,” said Jiang Fei without hiding anything.

“I say, brother Jiang Fei… There are things that should be taken slowly. Still… Ah! We’re close enough that I will say this now,” Bai Shien barked and explained his discomfort about his idea. He was ashamed to speak against him since he had taken advantage of Jiang Fei and his master.

“Please! Don’t hold back,” Jiang Fei broke the silence when Bai Shien had difficulty in opening up.

“Ugh… Fine. If it’s just me, I would swim in the sea of flames and fight a mountain of enemies for you. However, I can’t say the same for the others… I will help you to spread the word but I cannot…” Bai Shien sighed before he finished his sentence. Even so, Jiang Fei understood what he meant. Bai Shien could not reject Jiang Fei’s plea but the other grand masters were not in line with him.

“I understand. How about if my master presented a Godblade as a prize?” Jiang Fei smiled before he revealed the grand reward. He knew well that these grand masters were greedy for Godblades. That was the reason why he had come to Bai Shien in the first place. The grand master owed him a favor and had obtained a personalized weapon. The others would surely wish to own the same.

“Brother Jiang Fei?! Are you for certain?” Bai Shien asked again. This time, he was off his seat.

“Very much so. To be clear, the Godblade I am offering is a personalized weapon,” said Jiang Fei. Such a simple sentence, like the flutter of a butterfly wing, was akin to a meteor dropping down from the sky, rattling the entire Earth that was the heart of the grand masters.

Bai Shien had already had one made for him and Jiang Fei knew well that he “owned” the man. However, in order to recruit more grand masters into his party, he needed something to lure them in. All the previous grand masters that had joined the fight were good friends with Bai Shien. To ask them to join again without any “payment” would be moot. Now that Jiang Fei had such a luxurious bait placed, the other grand masters would offer themselves to help him instead of being asked to!

“Alright? Just to be clear… You are giving out one weapon as a reward?” Bai Shien asked, his voice squeaked with excitement. Knowing how precious Godblades were, Jiang Fei could not offer one to everyone, like how he did with the dart tips.

“Ah. I have three Godblades to be given to the three grand masters that contribute the most. I will also plea for my master to reforge them into a proper weapon!” said Jiang Fei. To be fair, Jiang Fei had very little Valium left. He didn’t even have enough to make a spearhead for Hua Mulan. The reason he could offer three weaponized Godblades as rewards was the discovery of Valium in the base where the Bio-Lab was kept. Based on the amount the Unknowns had stocked, it was more than enough to make three weaponized Godblades.

“Hmm… This is just a question but could two people work together to claim one Godblade?” Bai Shien asked as he returned to his seat and assumed the thinker pose.

“But of course!” Jiang Fei answered spontaneously. If Jiang Fei had limited the conditions to personal contributions, those that already owned Godblades would not want to participate. However, if a few were to cooperate with each other, they would not only be able to increase their probability in obtaining a rank but also help others who did not own a Godblade. Grand masters like Zhuge Qinlong could help someone else obtain one the weapons.

“Brilliant!” Bai Shien cried with joy. Besides Zhuge Qinlong helping out Liu Yiyi, Bai Shien had someone else in mind to help.

“Oh! Senior Bai, could you please contact Senior Zhuge Qinlong, senior Lee Shi, and Senior Yang Rouxi? My master has already finished their weapons!” Jiang Fei quickly requested when he noticed Bai Shien was about to move.

“I got it. Little brother, please wait here while this big brother has a roar in the sky. I’m sure the folks you mentioned will make their way here right before you know it!” Bai Shien said before vanishing from sight.

“Love, how many people do you think Mr. Bai could gather?” Ariel asked when she was alone with Jiang Fei.

“The more the merrier. Greed is good, especially when it’s not yours. These grand masters might be nonchalant the entire time because Earthly materials are already beyond their wants. But not Godblades, especially reforged ones. No one can resist them,” Jiang Fei replied in a collected manner.

“How wise your words are, Brother Jiang Fei.” A voice echoed in the caves, interrupting Jiang Fei and Ariel’s conversation. Before the echo ended, the Taoist, Zhuge Qinlong appeared beside them.

“Greetings, Senior Zhuge! Ahh, you have caught me red-handed,” said Jiang Fei apologetically. Truths were always bitter and when spoken of in someone else’s face, things could turn awkward at best.

“Aye, but it is the truth. Even the most civilized men would be swayed in the face of temptation,” said Zhuge Qinlong with a dignified look. Just as Jiang Fei predicted, Zhuge Qinlong already owned a weapon, but he still came to help because of Liu Yiyi. These two were so obvious that Zhuge Qinlong could not allow himself to let Liu Yiyi to go empty-handed.

“Master Taoist, I believe this is yours,” said Jiang Fei as he quickly changed the topic of conversation.

“Ahh… So this is it.”

Zhuge Qinlong lowered himself slightly as he accepted the longsword from Jiang Fei. Just as he said, even the most civilized men would sway in the face of temptation. In this case, it was the Godblade, a personalized, reforged Godblade! Having one in battle with another Level 5 would be a grand factor in winning the fight.