New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live-Chapter 1103: The Plan All Along

Tian Kuo could tell the threat was genuine. Even with his immortal soul, hidden deeply behind layers of defences inside his soul sea, he felt a slight tug.

He had never experienced this feeling before, even when he fought demons back at the dawn of humanity. But he immediately knew it was dangerous, and his soul sea shut tight, sealing itself like a fortress.

Alex felt the change in his senses, as the fox’s soul completely disappeared from his senses, which had never happened to him.

’Thousands of years of strengthening aren’t just for show, it seems. If I had access to my domain on this side of the veil, it wouldn’t matter. Right now, however, his soul is out of reach for me,’ he mused, retracting his soul pressure when he noticed the uncomfortable looks of his friends.

He didn’t have the fine control to affect only one person yet. And when he released Sanguis’ pressure like this, everyone around fell prey to it.

Luckily, he hadn’t exerted too much pressure, and his friends were only mildly discomforted.

But the threat had the desired effect, anyway.

Tian Kuo looked at him dead in the eyes, and his arrogant facade was gone.

"Fine. I won’t consider taking them under my wing. Just know that I could make you all much stronger than you are now, if you transitioned into Qi, which is this world’s natural energy."

Alex brushed away his comment with a wave of his hand.

"Let us worry about how we get stronger. I’m already aware that the world’s governments have started relying on hidden organizations to grow some people who can fight the monsters. I can only surmise you were part of the ones contacted by the Chinese government," Alex replied, only to get interrupted by the fox’s chortle.

"Hah. Those clowns did reach out. But they do not understand the start of this plague like I do. These monsters are far from being the worst threat to come. I can feel it in my bones, and crawling under my fur. The gaze of demons greedily watching the veil crumble away."

Alex’s brow raised, wondering how much the fox actually knew.

"The matter remains the same, regardless of what comes into our world. We need more people who can fight. Did you accept their requests?" he asked, curious how the fox had reacted to the Chinese government.

"Tch!" the fox clicked his tongue in disgust. "Like I had a choice!" he added in a growl.

Alex looked at him with a frown, unsure what that even meant. If life had taught him something, it was that you always had a choice. Yes, oftentimes, the choices offered to you were all terrible, but the choice remained yours.

Tian Kuo could tell Alexander was confused by his words, too. The frown on his face practically screamed, ’What do you mean?’

"They threatened us, saying they would expose our organization to all the others they were reaching out to. The government used to revere the Zhong Kui, look up to us as protectors. These days, all the people worship are false idols and animated models on the internet. A travesty, I say!" he exclaimed, balling up his fist on the table.

Alexander had to hold himself back from snorting as he realized the fox was angry at idols and v-tubers.

"Can you blame them? When you decide to go dark and vanish into the shadows, people forget you, and you become a distant memory. But you didn’t answer my question. Did you acquiesce to their demands?"

The fox grimaced at him.

"I did. But not without extorting them out of as many resources as I could. They want to blackmail me? They had better be ready to pay the big bucks!" he said, grimacing victoriously.

Alex nodded internally. Even if the celestial fox was arrogant and conceited, his strength was the real deal.

If he started empowering people, it would assuredly give humanity a few powerful fighters. Maybe even give them a shot at survival.

That was, of course, withholding the forces the rest of the world would train, in due time, and the ones that would come into power by themselves, like he had.

"Did you have any more questions?" Alex asked the fox, pushing aside the thoughts of future factions.

Tian Kuo smiled at him.

"Indeed, I do. One more," he said, his face turning serious again.

"What do you know of the future looming over us, and how much would it cost for you to share the details with me?" he asked, looking at Alexander, but glancing over at David.

Alex was taken aback momentarily. He and David had mentioned that they knew things about the future, yes. David had even said he was from said future.

But for the fox to show interest in what they knew, after blatantly telling them they were liars for claiming what they had, was surprising.

It was David who responded to this one, as a greedy grin stretched upon his lips. ƒгeewebnovёl_com

"Depends. How much do you value the life of humanity and your own? Because the information I hold, in it, you are not even part of the equation anymore. How much is your life worth, Celestial Beast?" he asked, the last words dragging across the table like an insult.

The fox sneered at him, the arrogance in the human, even if a strong one, misplaced in his opinion. But with the power he could feel in all of them combined was too troublesome to bother felling them.

If his feeling rang true, and demons had laid eyes on their world, they would need people to defend it. He was seldom strong enough to do that alone.

The strength he would waste to fight them all, even if he was assured of his own victory, would take years to recover. Years he wasn’t sure he had.

"Name a price. Thousands of years on this planet have given me one thing in abundance, aside from power, and that is wealth. I doubt you could name a price I cannot match," the fox said, looking at David with disinterest.

If money was what he wanted, then he was so much more shallow than he had given him credit for.

"I’m glad you would be so generous," David said with a victorious grin.

"In that case, you wouldn’t mind if I asked for this, right?" he added, pulling a small case out of a pocket in his jacket.

The fox’s eyes went wide as he saw the inscriptions on the box. He already knew what was inside it.

"How in heaven’s name did you get your hands on that?!" he exclaimed, looking at the box with mild horror.

David grinned even wider.

"I knew you’d know what this is. Getting it was hard, and cost me a fortune. Good thing I had insider knowledge of the markets.

"These last months have been extremely lucrative, and most of the earnings, plus the cut I take from my other creditors have allowed me to bribe a very fanatic collector out of this treasure just a few weeks ago," he said, pulling the latch on the small box.

With a small *Click*, the box popped open, and the fox shivered.

Alex became curious about what was inside the box, but didn’t pressure David into going faster. He liked how the man was driving the fox into an uncomfortable position.

"No. I will not do it. That is one line I cannot cross," Tian Kuo immediately refused.

But David snickered.

"You just told me to name my price. This is it. Are you already going back on your words? I thought Celestial Foxes were righteous beasts who only acted in the interests of humanity," he mocked, pulling out a set of four necklaces.

Hanging from small leather laces, four amulets made of shiny silver reflected sunlight like small mirrors.

Alex could make out a dragon, a tiger, a bird resembling a phoenix, and a tortoise. But he was still curious about why the fox was terrified of them.

"You are asking me to bear the burden of a dragon!" Tian Kuo exclaimed, looking at the amulets in horror.

"That is too much, even for me!" he added, clenching his fists.

David chuckled, dangling the necklaces.

"Yeah? Well, find me Qīnglóng, then," he said mockingly.

Tian Kuo ground his teeth together, realizing that the human had been planning this all along.

"You know I cannot do that. Qīnglóng would have my head if I disturbed him," he growled.

David was fully aware that the Azure Dragon Qīnglóng was a fickle one. It was why he had thought about using the celestial fox as a replacement for his plan with these amulets.

But he wasn’t done reeling that fish in.

"I thought the millennia you had spent on Earth would at least have made you as strong as the Azure Dragon from when these were made," he teased.

"Don’t tell me you are scared you are too weak to hold that burden?" he added, his tone turning to mocking.

"Do not mock me, human!" Tian Kuo burst out, smashing the table between them, the previous crack giving way under his strength, and the table collapsing under the impact of his fists.

"I have lived a hundred of your lifetimes, and can end with as little as a snap of my fingers! I have had it with your arrogance!" he screamed, standing up menacingly.

But as his pressure burst out, four others burst out, pushing him back.

Alexander, David, Kary, and Violette all glared at him, their mana pushing back the Qi pressure he was exerting.

"Sit the fuck down," Alex growled.

"Now."