Truthfully, Baotian didn't have much interest in the match: as much as it pained him, Zhenyun was simply too talented, there was no way someone only one minor stage higher could beat him outside of the six geniuses. That was why, as he watched it, he merely paid attention to Zhenyun's moves, not caring about the opponent or their strategies.
"Do you have a problem with this young man, fellow Zhang?" Ye Mu asked.
"What makes you think this?" he asked back.
"You look at him as if he slaughtered your entire family"
"..."
Baotian sighed:
"You're right, I do have a few problems with him, but let's be realistic, nothing I can do would be enough to threaten him" he said. "Look at this, he's fighting a grand perfection Core Formation cultivator and he's not even using one of his main moves, it's just… ridiculous"
"You're right, this person is absolutely absurd, comparing us to him would be just as absurd. Now, fellow Zhang, that doesn't mean that we should just give up on advancing altogether, does it?"
"Ahh… Old flox, no need for lengthy talks, I already have enough of these with human cultivators. Just tell me what trade you wish already"
"Ho? My apologies, I always believed that human cultivators all appreciated such nonsense, considering all those I have met until now went through with it when they were not trying to skin me alive"
"Just tell me what you want"
"Haha, very well"
The fox seemed to hesitate for an instant before speaking:
"I will be direct, fellow Zhang: I need blood essence" he said. "Not just small quantities of it either, I need a thousand liters, no less will do"
…
Uh?
Baotian paused for a second, as that was definitely among the last things he expected the fox to request. Did he look like someone that would slaughter hundreds of people regularly, for Ye Mu to ask such a stupidly high quantity?
'Actually, with all the blood essence that senior Bai gave me, I actually have over two and a half thousands, even if I give out forty percent of it I'll still have more than enough'
But the true question was…
"And why should I offer you such a scandalous quantity of blood essence? What do you have to offer in exchange?"
The fox chuckled, not surprised by such an answer:
"Of course, I wasn't expecting you to offer me such considerable… ehm, possession, without receiving anything in exchange" he said. "But I do believe that what I have to offer you is more interesting than any treasure of the Qi Building realm"
"And what is that?" Baotian asked again, raising his eyebrow.
"I offer you to tamper with the blood essence before giving it to me"
"What do you even mean?"
At this point, as Zhenyun's match was starting to get more and more dominated by the latter, he started to be out of patience toward the fox's cryptic talks.
"Fine then, let me put it bluntly: I plan to use this blood essence to complete my core for my advancement, and I'm offering you to temper with it so you can control me after I become a Golden Core Spirit Beast" Ye Mu said, making sure to communicate with his divine sense so no one else would hear him.
Baotian, hearing this, started to doubt his spiritual sense. Then, realizing he had not misheard, replied:
"Alright, let's… let's assume you're telling the truth" he said. "Why are you asking me instead of senior Bai? Not only is he stronger than me but there's also a lot more chances that he has the quantity of blood essence you are asking for. As you can you, compared to him, I am also much more problematic, without mentioning that you would have to obey to a mere Qi Building human even after reaching the next level"
"While it is true that this person seems more… uhm, worthy, he is clearly a far too unstable person. You seem more reasonable, and also doesn't seem to have any prejudice against us Spirit Beasts. You also had the willpower to keep fighting to the end, and the intelligence to keep this killer move of yours hidden until the critical moment"
Baotian nodded with a neutral face, not in a hurry to explain to him why he didn't give up, because he physically was unable to, and why he didn't use the formation killer move earlier, which was because he had quite literally learned it the day before.
In fact, right now, he wasn't the one who had to explain:
"Interesting story, now tell me, what technique do you plan to use to get rid of the tampering in the long term?" he asked.
Ye Mu might be an experienced cultivator but he was not a particularly good liar. Just by observing his behavior while transmitting his words, it was relatively easy to deduce he was at least partially lying. The only conclusion that could be reached was that he had a method to get rid of the tampering of the blood essence, but wasn't sure of its efficacy against the skills of a blood spells master such as Bai Zisheng.
"It seems that my acting wasn't sufficient to fool fellow Zhang" the fox said, seemingly neither surprised nor ashamed. "Indeed, just like the cells of our bodies replace themselves over time, by using the correct method, it is possible to replace the base of our core over time, allowing to eliminate every parasite material"
Not even denying, he truly was a fox… Baotian, shaking his head, asked:
"Since when was such a thing possible, in the first place? Cores are made purely of solidified spiritual energy, condensed to act as the center of your being, how could it be replaced?"
"It's simple, really, Spirit Beasts simply have different cultivation formulas" Ye Mu said. "In fact, before the Nascent Soul realm, even our realms and formulas are different, an example being that our Spiritual Core is made from refined spiritual materials"
"I see, was that why senior Bai's second opponent called himself a 'Golden Core' instead of a Core Formation cultivator?"
"Indeed. While we too start with Qi Condensation, instead of the Qi Refining, Qi Building, and Core Formation realms, we go through the realms of Body Tempering, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core"
"Oh, interesting"
Zhenyun's dual was now arriving at its conclusion. While he had utilized a few interesting moves, it was clear that he never used his full power, not even once.
"So let me ask again" Baotian said. "Why should I offer you such a scandalous quantity of blood essence? What do you have to offer in exchange? Beside a false proposition, I mean"
Ye Mu tilted his head:
"It seems there is a misunderstanding: my offer still is the same" he said, causing Baotian to frown. "Just like the cells of our body take time to be replaced, the base of our Core would take at the very least a decade to completely be replaced, I believe having a Golden Core cultivator giving you unconditional help for a decade in exchange for a resource you can obtain everywhere is still a worthy trade"
Baotian frowned again, still doubtful about the fox's intentions. Meanwhile, with a loud noise, Zhenyun sent his opponent flying out of the fighting area, not seriously injured, but knocked unconscious completely. From beginning to start, without revealing his strength, Zhenyun had not only dominated the match, sustaining no injury beyond a few bruises and cuts, but had done it so his opponent wasn't severely injured either. It was truly a crushing victory. Right after that, the referee announced his victory, along with the victory of the Xuanhe Kingdom for this second round.
"And in the first place, why don't you go get it yourself?" Baotian asked. "Don't tell me that is because you're not a blood cultivator and don't have any blood essence extraction spell, I have been in the demonic path long enough to know just how common artifacts allowing to do so are"
"The reason is one that is a bit shameful, but I can still answer fellow Zhang's question" Ye Mu replied. In truth, it is simply that I… Mhm?"
His attention was diverted as they suddenly felt the overwhelming presences of the two kings clash with each other. Everyone present tensed up, their breath stopping, thinking they would be trapped in the battle between them, until they realized that they weren't clashing. The king of the Lands of Yaoling was merely using his spirit sense to communicate with the king of Xuanhe, he simply didn't bother to contain it for them.
As the kings were discussing, and Zhenyun was hesitating to get off the stage, the genius of the Griffin tribe, Hanliang, jumped on stage too, in his human form, and began talking to the referee, using his spiritual sense too.
"Let's finish this conversation later, something interesting seems to be happening" Baotian transmitted to Ye Mu through spiritual sense.
The fox nodded, and they reported their attention to the scene, while doing their best to breathe under the kings' monstrous presence.
The more he heard of Hanliang's words, the more the referee paled, almost trembling. He then turned to the spectators, trying to say something, but he was obviously far too shaken to talk correctly, and so, Hanliang patted his shoulder and walked forward to speak in his stead:
"Dear contesters, it seems that on his way here, elder Na, the Nascent Soul grand elder of the Divine Storm Sect encountered complications" he said. "We tried several times to reach him, but it seems that he has disappeared into thin air. Not only is this disappearance very saddening but, ehm, well, I now don't have any opponent to fight in the third round. And as our king is unwilling to interrupt the contest in its last part…"
He turned toward Liu Zhenyun:
"Young master Liu, would you mind being my opponent?"
Hearing this, everyone present was shocked, and many of Xuanhe kingdom's cultivators felt outraged. To them, it was obvious that the Lands of Yaoling were trying to use this as an occasion to get rid of the kingdom's remaining genius!
"Are… are you asking because you're still angry about what I said when we arrived" Zhenyun asked.
Hanliang, looking as if he had swallowed a hedgehog, shook his head:
"Obviously not! I understand, considering all the bad rumors concerning me, that one can have such… misunderstandings" he replied. "It's just that, well, considering the situation, where we miss a Nascent Soul cultivator…"
He quickly turned his eyes to the Spirit Beasts king and shook his hand next to his throat, not very subtle, not very subtle.
"And, uhm, obviously, I will give myself a handicap to make it fair, and you will be rewarded additionally!" he quickly added. "Ehm, if you want, you can even make it a two-against-one, with Bai Zisheng for instance!"
The latter, having his name mentioned, quickly intervened:
"Fellow Hanliang, I am sorry but I am much too tired to participate again, and my back has suddenly started to ache" he said, lying with a straight face, barely trying. "Moreover, the kings have chosen themselves to make this contest a succession of duels to demonstrate the strength of our two nations cultivators, so a two-versus-one would be unappropriate"
With how obvious his refusal was, Hanliang did not have much trouble reading between the lines, and his expression became uncomfortable, as he wondered how he could smooth this situation over.
"It's okay" Zhenyun intervened.
"Uhm, if you wish, I won't… oh, wait, what did you say?" Haliang asked, unsure of his ears' potency.
"I said, it's alright. I was already searching for a stronger opponent to test a new move of mine that requires being weaker than the other. I would be honored to be your opponent, senior Hanliang"
The genius of the Griffin tribe, struggling to believe his luck, sighed and couldn't keep his calm any longer:
"Oh, thanks heavens, and thank you, you have no idea how much trouble you just spared everyone" he said. "Well then, rest well, the third round will take place tomorrow!"
Fearing that the young man would change his mind, he left the stage before anyone could say anything. He was about to leave but, at the last moment, he went back on his track:
"Right, I almost forgot"
He directed himself toward where Ye Mu and Baotian were. The latter though that he had something to discuss with his fellow Spirit Beast and was about to leave the two of them alone but, instead, Hanliang walked to him:
"Before I leave, I just have a question to ask you, junior Zhang" he said.
"Uh? Oh, uh, of course, senior, do so" he said.
What could this guy have to ask him?
'Ah, I really don't want to be associated with this guy' Baotian sighed internally.
He had other things to do and, whether or not the rumors about him being a sexual abuser were true or not, his reputation alone made him problematic.
'Well, that's ok. Let's just quickly get it over with, talk respectfully and call him senior before saying I'm tired and going to rest. Quickly, respectfully, including the word seni-'
"I'll be direct, junior Zhang: I want to offer you a position as my concubine"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Be it Zhenyun, Bai Zisheng, Ye Mu, Baotian himself or anyone else, even the king Xuanhe Wuxin. All speechless. Baotian, shortly wondering if he should forget the realm difference and just strike between the legs before escaping, forced himself to answer. Quickly, respectfully, including the word seni-
"Respectfully, senior, what the fuck is this question? I didn't even know your face two days ago! Do you suffer from qi deviation, is a heart demon clawing at your mind or are you just mentally ill?"
Once again, everyone froze, including Hanliang and Baotian themselves.
"..."
At the very least, it had been a quick reply.