Chapter 61 61 – Friendship Test



Bonus chapter for hitting 150 power stones this week.

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"Just don't use the tiger for fighting and don't abuse it, it's a fragile creature."

Maria raised an eyebrow when she heard him call a tiger "fragile" but kept her opinion to herself. She was thankful to have such a beast as a mount.

"It won't bite me in my sleep, right?"

"It won't. Take this, there are 30 pills that can help the tiger refresh. And those are the two pills I promised the tiger, so you can give them to it when you aren't riding it."

A few bottles of pills floated in the air toward Maria who put them in her storage ring.

"Oh right, Young Master, what about the two disciples from your sect? Would you like me to free them?"

"Let me see them."

She led him to the same hut where he noticed the two prisoners earlier and took out a key from her storage ring. Ken already gave her the storage rings of everyone after he emptied everything he needed from them.

She unlocked the door and opened it, revealing two young inner disciples tied up. Their blue robes had no embroidery, meaning they were commoners.

"Here they are, Young Master."

The two disciples were talking to each other before Ken entered, and they immediately turned silent to look at the newcomer. To their surprise, it was a young kid from their sect!

Ken switched to normal inner disciple robes before going in as everyone in the sect could identify the embroidery of the Sue Clan. He also wore his mask again.

The two disciples knew he wasn't as simple as he seemed since the bandit boss called him "Young Master", but as a fellow disciple of the same sect, they hoped he will spare them.

"Young Master! Please let us go, we are fellow disciples from the Phoenix Feather Sect!"

The male disciple begged in a low voice. His friend, a female disciple, bowed her head as well.

They were both tied up with chains that drained their Qi constantly and scattered it in the air, so they were powerless.

"Young Master, should I release them?"

Ken guessed they were commoners, but he still sighed in disappointment. He lost interest already.

"No, you can kill the girl and keep the boy. You said he was pretty, right?"

Maria looked at him in surprise when she heard his words and remembered how she bragged about taking this boy as a lover in front of the other bandits; she didn't expect him to eavesdrop on that conversation. She laughed awkwardly and denied it quickly.

"No way, Young Master. How can I have eyes for anyone else after seeing you? I will wait for you to grow up."

She was 45 years old and wasn't a shy girl, she wouldn't blush from something like this. She might have failed to seduce him today, but in a few years when his hormones will go wild… she still has a shot!

She already imagined how he will fail to keep his temper in front of her voluptuous body in the future. A helpless beautiful woman who can only obey every wish he had; she still didn't meet a man that could keep his body in check in such a situation.

But if she took this boy in front of her now, he would never take her seriously as a love interest. No, only rats' eyesight is just one inch long, and she was no rat. (1) 

"Why are you smiling?"

Ken raised an eyebrow at her when he saw her thirsty smile.

"No reason, Young Master. So, should I kill them both?"

"No, no! Please, just let my fiancée live! You can kill me if you want and take all of our belongings. I promise you she won't tell anyone about what happened today!"

The male disciple kneeled and hit his head against the ground desperately as he pleaded for mercy. He already saw that the real authority was the young kid, so he aimed his words at Ken.

"Yes, just kill them both. I really don't mind if you want the boy for your needs though."

Ken didn't plan to intervene in her fetishes and perversions. He wasn't a savior, and she could commit as many crimes as she wanted as long as she was careful enough not to get him in trouble.

"You look only around 10 years old, how can you be so cruel? We are from the same sect!"

The female disciple cried out when she heard his judgment. She didn't want to die.

"Wait."

Ken said and stopped Maria from killing the two. She looked at him with mild surprise. Despite being a child, he didn't give the impression of a compassionate person who would change his mind because of a girl's plead.

"I'm cruel, but aren't you? All humans are cruel."

He said to the teary girl in front of him. She looked at him in confusion but felt hope when she saw he stopped Maria from killing them.

"I'm not. I don't kill others. I never killed anyone before!"

Ken knew it was true because his Bloodlust Sense missed them both when he just got here.

"Really? Do you love your fiancé as much as he loves you?"

"Yes. I will give up my life for him."

"What about you, do you trust your fiancée with your life?"

"I do."

"I see. Well, to show you I can be merciful too, you can have this sword. If one of you kills the other, I will let the killer go. If none of you kills the other for one day, I will let you both go."

"Young Master, are you sure about it? They can just not kill each other; they have no motive to kill each other this way."

Maria asked him worriedly. She thought he might not know the right way to run those friendship tests. She also used to do them as a new bandit whenever people called her heartless, and they almost always failed. 

As for the few who passed the test, she never kept her promise to let them go. They weren't wrong, she was heartless.

Ken ignored Maria and simply let out his domain, activating the second mode – Frenzy Mode. However, he only used it mildly. It would put some murderous thoughts in their heads, but they should be able to resist them with enough willpower.

"Oh, I will pay you 500,000 medium Qi Stones as compensation for your suffering here. You can keep them all whether one of you is dead by tomorrow or both of you are still alive."

He poured 500,000 Qi Stones on the floor in front of them and exited the room with Maria behind him. Before leaving, he broke a pill that would keep the frenzy effect going for a few hours as long as they breathe the air in the hut.

"Young Master, I don't think this amount of money would be enough to tempt lovers to kill each other."

"We will see."

Ken remembered everything he went through in his former life. Even those who didn't kill were cruel in the right circumstances, and he didn't believe those two were any different.

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Meanwhile, Dan and Chloe were locked inside the hut smiling in happiness.

"My love, we will be fine as long as he keeps his promise. Look at all those stones; if we get them, we will be set for the next few years!"

It was much more than they earned 5 years even if they split this amount in half.

"Do you think he will keep his promise? I can't believe he thinks we would betray each other for money, no matter how much it is."

"I think he will. It seemed important to him according to his tone. And can a 10-year-old be both a liar and cruel? If we prove our love to him, we might even affect his view on the world."

She smiled back at him and the two kept chatting.

A few hours later, they both felt their minds being filled with a weird desire to kill their lover. 

'If I kill her, I will get enough cultivation resources to cultivate like a rich kid for a decade easily.'

Dan thought to himself. Chloe's thoughts reflected his. They both were getting nervous about it.

"Dear, I'm going to sleep. I think it's the best way to pass this time until we are set free."

"You're right, I will go to sleep too. I can't wait to go back home with you."

The two tried sleeping, but their mind was filled with thoughts about how they should just kill the other and take all the prize for themselves. 

It could affect their whole foundation if they had that many Qi Stones. They could even get some new techniques and manuals.

They were both pretending to sleep while evening their breath to fool the other. From time to time, they would steal glances at the sword laying on the ground not far from them. The hut wasn't big enough to place the sword more than 3-4 meters away.

'I'm closer to the sword. I should take it just in case she wants to murder me.'

Dan thought to himself. When one wants to murder others, one would fear others want to murder them as well. Nobody wants to think they're the only ones messed up. He peeked at his seemingly asleep fiancée.

A/N: (1) Rats' eyesight is only one inch long – Idiom saying that stupid people give up long-term benefits for minor short-term ones.