32 Greed

They witnessed a gigantic tortoise corpse defiled.

Two of the heads were beheaded and a single leg was severed while another was dyed in red.

The area completely smelt like blood, a disgusting copper scent that stuck to their nose as they attempted to find out what happened to their prey.

Seeing that a person in the distance was lighting up a fire and releasing that great smell from his stew, they headed over to ask some questions.

Wanting to make a great impression a man started to introduce themselves.

"Hello! I'm Lirgo from Five Star College and the people beside me are my friends"

Giving off a friendly smile, the man noticed that the person still had no reaction and started introducing his friends to see if it could grab his attention.

"That man over there is Joe."

Dean sent a glance and saw that the man was well endowed with armor and that there was a large shield on his back.

The style was very glamorous rousing the attention that it was probably cheap and ineffective however Dean saw that there were quite a few scratches and dents, suggesting it was durable.

One problem he saw was that the weight of the man was unusual for a cultivator.

He owned a pot belly that could affect a fast fight but the equipment told Dean that he was a very defensive person.

Continuing his introduction the man then pointed at two girls

"The older one is Katrina and the younger one is Kellie."

Seeing their leader suddenly introduce everyone, they automatically smiled.

Katrina held a scabbard to her right that had the style of a claymore sword while her sister on the other hand had two small daggers on her sides.

But due to the sun's rays, Dean could see a small glimmer under her sleeves meaning that she must have hidden dozens of weapons.

'What a balanced team!'

Lirgo noticed that he had finally gained the man's attention and asked his question

"Man, the area got completely destroyed! Who killed that monster over there."

Trying to open up a conversation and be vague as well, Lirgo did not want this man to steal his prey but instead deal with whoever killed that tortoise.

Dean felt interested in what they could offer and responded

"Oh, I killed that."

The sudden dull yet straightforward answer made Lirgo question himself.

Taking a careful look at his opponent, he analysed his surroundings and saw that a man was lying on the ground with bandages wrapping him up.

To the side of that man was a small hilt with a few crests of metal remnants scattered.

Seeing that Dean held no sharp weapon in sight as he placed his polearm inside his blue orb. Lirgo came to the conclusion that Dean was probably a wanderer who helped that man.

The bandaged man was probably the actual person who killed the tortoise and Dean could just possibly be his servant or want to earn this strong man's favor.

Not whatsoever disappointed, there was an essence of greed in his eyes as he realized he could just upright steal the Earth Endowing Tortoise.

Although the meat was quite nutritious and the shell was strong, the main precious core were the herbs that were littering on top of the tortoise's shell.

An absolute goldmine if they took the time to actually take everything there.

The giant tree probably held a fruit that could elevate one's cultivation while the wood would be useful for creating a weapon.

If their group was very lucky then they could even get seeds to grow their own herbs.

Imagining the riches that were just in reach, Lirgo became much more daring with his thinking due to greed.

Hinting at Kellie to make a move by beckoning her with his hand in a discrete manner they began to make their move.

"So are you willing to hand over the corpse? After all it was our prey first."

Dean understood that he was trying to imply that they had somehow slowly injured the tortoise but Dean clearly saw that the damage done to the tortoise wasonly done by him and Leonard.

There was no poisoning done to the tortoise as he had already checked the meat before simmering it into fire.

'Outright lying? How shameless.'

Lirgo wanted to further his prominence in front of Dean to get the Earth Endowing Tortoise corpse by releasing his cultivation level.

Core Refiner 7

A sneer escaped from Dean's face but his head was down making it seem like he was thinking carefully

'Is he an Elder's disciple?'

The thought was only instant but Dean was ready to take out his equipment

Lirgo thought that he would accept his fate but instead Dean declared his stance

"I'm sorry, my friend fought really hard for that corpse. Maybe if you can give something in trade could we make a deal."

'Such futile annoyance.'

Tired enough of the boring conversation, Lirgo moved his hand to signal Kellie to attack Dean.

Swiftly taking out her daggers they were immediately directed to Dean's neck while he was holding onto a ladle.

Seeing that the soup was going well, Dean put a lid on top of the pot before placing the ladle on top.

Lirgo thought that he was about to surrender but Dean had finally made his move.

Speaking beneath his breath, Dean had summoned Silent Cage

Beneath Kellie was a dark void that devoured her by slowly reaching out its fangs and claws, entrapping her in literal darkness.

She dropped her blade however her other hand suddenly regained conscious as she struck the walls of the cage.

It had obviously weakened but the numbing sense slowly consumed her thoughts as only a small gap had finally allowed her to escape from her prison.

Just from that one spell, Kellie felt tired but Dean had stood up from his spot to start his onslaught.

'Even if he is a disciple of an elder. I can just interrogate him to see if his master's strong otherwise...'

The group was overall weak yet had many areas that would overpower any beast without any intellect.

But to arrogantly face Dean, he couldn't help but play around.